Vol.64/No.19 May 15, 2000
Thousands march in New York to defend immigrant rights
BY OLGA RODRíGUEZ and PATRICK O'NEILL
NEW YORK—Several thousand immigrant workers rallied and marched in New York City May 1 to demand the right to legal residence for all undocumented immigrants in the United States. Those present were mostly workers originally from a number of Latin American countries.
The growing size and political involvement of Mexican workers in New York was particularly noticeable in the march. Flags and other national symbols of Mexico abounded among the marchers, as they made their way down Broadway from Union Square to City Hall.
The Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty, which helped organize the action, reported similar rallies in a number of states, from Texas to California.
An estimated 6 million undocumented workers live in the United States, and the numbers continue to increase. The growing confidence of immigrant workers and readiness to stand up for their rights is one factor that led the top AFL-CIO officialdom to reconsider its previous stance of supporting certain anti-immigrant laws such as sanctions on employers hiring undocumented workers—a measure that bosses use to try to intimidate immigrants. In mid-February the AFL-CIO executive council decided to call for "amnesty"—that is, granting legal residence to all workers without papers currently living in the country. The AFL-CIO has been holding forums around the country on this subject.
Growing confidence of immigrants
"Aquí estamos y no nos vamos!" (We're here and we're not leaving) and similar chants, delivered with gusto at the May 1 rally here, expressed the enthusiasm of the workers who marched to press the fight against deportations and immigration police raids, and for legal rights.
Many participants carried handwritten signs. One read, "As Mexicans, we demand amnesty for people from all countries." Others declared, "Being undocumented is not a crime!" and "Amnesty: we deserve it now!"
A handful of unions brought organized contingents. Among the most visible were several dozen members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Also participating were members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Local 1199 of the hospital workers union.
The Tepeyac Association, a church-linked group that organizes immigrants from Mexico, mobilized large and visible contingents to the march. Other participants included a contingent of African immigrants carrying a sign demanding amnesty.
For a time, city cops outnumbered the protesters at the assembly point. Some 2,000 cops were deployed, clad in riot gear or grouped near the march route with their motorcycles. Some wore gas masks. Police officials claimed the large cop presence was aimed at "thwarting violence," based on supposed tips that a violent disruption might occur.
Through the course of the afternoon the police arrested 25 people, many of them anarchists, "on charges of disorderly conduct, assault, and violating an obscure 1845 state law barring masked gatherings," as the New York Daily News reported. The police used the same reactionary law to initially ban a gathering of Ku Klux Klan racists last year. The immigrant rights marchers behaved with discipline and dignity in the face of this cop mobilization.
A large number of the demonstrators were youth. Darío, an 18-year-old from Colombia who works and goes to school, explained why he was at the march. "There are those who say we don't deserve anything but the minimum [wage] and worse because we are 'illegal.' But, we're here to defend ourselves because we are all equal. We are for amnesty for all immigrants," he said.
Darío pointed out that the U.S. government's own policies in Latin America drive immigration. Contrary to Washington's claims of abhorring what they call a "cycle of violence" in his country, he said, "U.S. military intervention in Columbia has actually increased the level of violence, and this forces many to come to the U.S. illegally."
Local 78 of the Laborers International Union of North America was one union contingent that made itself seen. Four days earlier the union hosted a meeting of 400 workers and union representatives in Jersey City, New Jersey, to demand a new amnesty law. Many of those present were construction workers originally from Ecuador.