Vol. 73/No. 18      May 11, 2009

Opening the news conference, Fr. José Landaverde of Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Catholic Mission noted that it took place on the street just outside the Little Village Discount Mall, scene of a massive immigration raid April 25, 2007.

On that date FBI agents and immigration cops in bulletproof vests carrying heavy automatic weapons confronted and detained people in this small shopping mall.

At the time the FBI claimed it was targeting people selling false Social Security cards.

Speaking at the press conference Emma Lozano, a founder of Centro Sin Fronteras and president of Familia Latina Unida/Sin Fronteras, said, “The Latino vote carried the swing states for Obama. He promised immigration reform would be on the agenda in the first 100 days. The first 100 days are up and we’re still waiting. We’re calling for a moratorium on raids and deportations. We want to see an end to the separation of families. Economic recovery should not be built on the separation of families.”

“We are calling on all workers to join us for this workers holiday to march for legalization and a just immigration reform,” said Margarita Klein, representing Workers United and a coalition of 10 unions mobilizing for May Day. “We are also appealing to the community to join us.

“May Day is the international workers holiday celebrated worldwide,” Klein explained in response to reporters’ questions.

“The workers movement in this country cannot tolerate a situation where a layer of workers is forced into a second-class status," she continued. “That can have only one impact—making it more difficult to win decent wages and working and living conditions for all workers. That’s why the fight for legalization of immigrant workers is a key question for workers as a whole.”

“We’re calling upon our brothers and sisters who came out and marched with us in massive numbers on March 10, 2006, and May Day in 2006 and 2007 to come out again this year,” said Jorge Mújica, representative of the March 10 Committee, one of the groups that organized the March 10, 2006, march of 100,000 here against the Sensenbrenner anti-immigrant bill. “The situation we confronted then has not been resolved, so we must act again," he said.

“The consequences of the economic crisis we are living through are being felt by working people across the country and especially by immigrant workers. The rich and their system caused the crisis. The rich should bear the burden of it, not the working class," he said.

“Immigrant workers are American workers. And they should enjoy the same rights as workers who are citizens," Mújica added. "That’s why we are urging a massive turnout May 1 to demand legalization now.”

In a related development, about a dozen students met at Northeastern Illinois University to build the May Day march and to defend a student and a young unemployed worker threatened with deportation. The campus Movimento Cultural Latino Americano sponsored the meeting.

José Herrera, 25, a student at the campus who came to Chicago from Mexico when he was seven, was picked up by Chicago police for a traffic violation and handed over to immigration authorities. He ended up in jail for three months and now faces deportation. “Eventually I got out. But I am fighting for the rest that are still in the jails,” Herrera told the students.

José Macías came to Chicago from Mexico when he was two years old. He and a friend were stopped by Chicago police for allegedly running a red light. “I was in jail for several months. The jail is full of other people like me facing deportation. We shouldn’t be treated this way. I am still fighting my deportation.”

After the meeting the students, who are planning to walk out of school on May 1, made signs and banners to carry in the march.

Alyson Kennedy contributed to this article.
 
 
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