Day laborers from the Asociación de Trabajadores de D.C. have been among those passing out flyers in working-class neighborhoods and other places. The organization will have a contingent marching with their banner, said Julio Vásquez, a member of the group.

“We hope it will be a successful march and the government will change the law,” said Vásquez.

Members of Amigos del Barrio, another local immigrant rights group here, handed out fliers August 20 outside the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church, saying, “Join in the Demand for Legalization for ALL.” Following the service, Ricardo Gallardo, an organizer from the Mid-Atlantic regional office of the Laborers’ International Union (LIU), made an announcement about the march that was received with prolonged applause from the more than 500 people there.

The National Capital Immigration Coalition flyer inviting people to the march says, “Support Immigrants! Don’t Divide Our Families! Don’t Divide Our Communities!”

Local activists said they are planning to speak to other church congregations, visit college campuses, distribute flyers to commuters at subway stations in Washington, and ask local businesses to post flyers on their windows.

So far, participants are coming from Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, according to Fani Cruz, from Amigos del Barrio.

“We’ve been at all the marches,” said Cruz. “Whenever there is an issue that effects the immigrant community, we get together to plan, organize, and figure out how to get more people involved.”

The rally and march are scheduled to coincide with the day Congress returns from its summer recess. They will be preceded by visits with members of Congress. The New York daily El Diario/La Prensa reports that speakers at the rally include senators John McCain, a Republican, and Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, who were among the sponsors of Senate Resolution 2611. The measure—approved by the Senate in May—has been touted by many capitalist politicians as a “pro-immigrant” alternative to the so-called Sensenbrenner bill the House of Representatives passed in December, which would criminalize all undocumented immigrants and those who aid them.

A number of immigrant rights groups across the country, including many of those that took part in the August 11-13 National Immigrant Rights Strategy Convention in Chicago, have been speaking out against both bills. The Senate bill would boost border police, establish a “guest worker” program, and allow some of the undocumented to obtain residency after meeting onerous conditions, including dependence on employers.

“We know a good percentage of our membership is undocumented,” said Gallardo, explaining why the Laborers’ International Union has become involved in building the September 7 march.

Gallardo said LIU organizers have visited both organized and nonunion construction sites to build the march and to convince employers not to retaliate against workers who leave early to participate. Most employers have not put up too much resistance “because they need these workers,” Gallardo said. “After the [immigration] raids, some companies got scared, laid off all the undocumented, and began to hire only people with papers. But after a few weeks, they didn’t have the personnel they needed, and they began to hire undocumented again.”
 
 
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Anti-immigrant bill defeated in Palm Bay, Florida  
 
 
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