Many demonstrators carried signs that read, “We are not criminals.” Some added, “We are your workforce.” The bill approved by the House in December would make it a felony for immigrants to live in the United States without proper documents and for anyone “aiding, abetting, counseling” an undocumented immigrant.

The two-and-a-half-mile march, estimated at 100,000 by most major local media, jammed downtown streets for hours. CBS TV said up to 300,000 people took part. The crowd was swelled by workers who took the day off. At some small companies, bosses encouraged their mostly immigrant employees to attend the action.

At the Stampede Meat plant, workers reported that when they noticed that many co-workers hadn’t come in and saw others leaving early, about half of the first shift decided to go to the march. The company had to shut several cutting and packing lines.

A few small union contingents took part in the march, including from UNITE HERE and the Service Employees International Union.

Numerous students walked out of high schools to join the march. At Farragut Career Academy in the suburb of Lawndale, half of the 2,500 students walked out, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The crowd was made up overwhelmingly of immigrants and children of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Polish, Chinese, Irish, African, and other workers were also present.

One of the marchers, David Martínez, told the press he was demonstrating because “I want to live here with my family.” Truck driver Pedro Hernández said, “It’s about human beings and basic rights.”

Many in the crowd carried signs against the Sensenbrenner bill, whose title is The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act. Besides criminal sanctions against undocumented immigrants and those who aid them, the measure calls for reinforcing the Border Patrol and extending the building of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Others carried signs supporting the McCain-Kennedy bill, which is backed by many Democratic and some Republican politicians. (See article in this issue.)

Speakers at the rally included Mayor Richard Daley, Governor Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Sen. Richard Durbin, and other Democratic politicians who promoted the McCain-Kennedy bill.

Organizers of the march handed out thousands of American flags to demonstrators. Many in the crowd, however, brought flags of Mexico and other countries. The organizers also held a moment of silence at the beginning of the march for U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq.

Ernest Mailhot is a meat packer. Rollande Girard is a sewing machine operator and member of UNITE HERE.
 
 
Related articles:
Oppose employers’ immigration ‘reform’!
Unionize all workers, native- and foreign-born
McCain-Kennedy ‘guest worker’ bill helps bosses keep pool of labor for superexploitation
House bill criminalizes undocumented workers
D.C. protesters: ‘Immigrants are not criminals’
N.Y. top court: undocumented get back pay for job injury  
 
 
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