The protest was initiated by several local immigrant rights groups after the September 19 immigration raid. On that day federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents went in an unmarked van to Kennedy Park here, where dozens of day laborers gather every morning, and pretended to be bosses in search of laborers. The workers, tricked into believing they had jobs, were driven away and jailed. ICE worked closely with the local police and in collaboration with the mayor to carry out the raid.

At the protest, Carlos Córdova of the Ecuadorean Civic Center said, speak ing in Spanish, “We are not terrorists. We are not criminals. The only crime of those 11 people was to work.”

Leonel Villavicencio, president of the Danbury Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants, reported that eight of the 11 workers, who are all Ecuadorean-born, were now in touch with their families and immigration lawyers, but three had still not been heard from. Villavicencio also said that these arrests were a “violation of immigrant dignity,” and that the coalition was “inviting the city government to a responsible dialogue” on immigration.

Also speaking was Fidela San Miguel, from the United Day Laborers of Freehold, New Jersey, where for several years immigrant workers have been waging a struggle to seek work free from harassment.

Among the demonstrators were Walter Sincha and Vicente Mayorga, Ecuadorean-born workers who came from New York City to show solidarity. Mayorga, who walked with a cane, pointed to the unsafe conditions that immigrant workers are often exposed to because of their vulnerable legal status. He himself was injured lifting a heavy load on a construction site.

Sincha said, “We are not alone—this is a struggle for immigrant rights all over the country. We are not the problem. We are the solution.”

Some 25 ultrarightists, including supporters of the Minutemen, held a counterprotest. As the last speakers at the immigrant rights action were wrapping up and the march to City Hall was to begin, three rightists interrupted. One shouted, “English! English!” Others held signs saying, “Save American workers. No Amnesty” and “Arrest Criminal Employers.”

One carried a sign that stated, “Deport Everyone. Speak English or Die.” The two demonstrations were kept on opposite sides of the street by the police.

The supporters of immigrant rights had a lively mile-long march to City Hall waving signs such as “No Human Being is Illegal” and “Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote.” They chanted, “No somos uno, no somos cien, somos millones, cuéntanos bien” (We’re not one, we’re not 100, we are millions, count us well).
 
 
Related articles:
Protesters in California counter rightist Minutemen
Congress approves Voter ID bill, border fence
How labor misleaders led ‘Yellow Peril’ campaign  
 
 
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