The Militant - May 14, 2007 -- 'Legalization, not deportation!'

Vol. 71/No. 19 May 14, 2007

'Legalization, not deportation!'
10,000 march in New York on May Day

BY MARTÍN KOPPEL
NEW YORK, May 1—“Legalization, not deportation!” was the demand of demonstrators here this evening. Ten thousand workers and other supporters of immigrant rights gathered in Union Square, then marched to Federal Plaza. Feeder marches converged on the rally site from several locations, including Chinatown, the largely Dominican district of Washington Heights, Washington Square Park, and Woodside, Queens.

Some 300 rallied earlier in the day at Hempstead, Long Island, and half of them made it to the New York protest.

“Last year we marched, and we stopped a law that was going to criminalize us,” said Elías Irineo, 35, who makes sandwiches at a Manhattan deli. “But now they are treating us like criminals with their workplace raids.” He said his boss profits from the undocumented status of the 12 deli employees, who are paid minimum wage, work 10-12 hours daily, and get no overtime pay.

Many demonstrators voiced anger at the stepped-up factory raids and deportations.

“They are deporting workers and leaving children without their parents. We are protesting the separation of families,” said Clotilde Rondón, a housekeeper. “We want legalization so our rights will be respected as workers. We’re not criminals.”

Rondón, born in the Dominican Republic, was carrying a Senegalese flag a West African worker had given her. “There are no borders here,” she said smiling, amid a sea of flags from Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Philippines, Pakistan, and other countries.

Six busloads of workers came from Long Island, reported Carlos Canales of the Workplace Project, which organized a contingent of 150 from Hempstead. Farmingville and other Long Island towns have been focal points of conflict as day laborers, most from Mexico and El Salvador, have stood up to attacks by capitalist politicians and rightist groups.

“In a lot of places the police try to intimidate us when we look for work. We’re trying to establish hiring sites so we won’t be harassed,” said Juan Hernández, 51, a Salvadoran-born day laborer. He said they had won official sites in Freeport and other towns but are fighting to establish more.

A contingent of 200 came from Chinatown, led by the Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA), which has organized fights by restaurant, garment, construction, and other workers. Most of the marchers were Chinese and Latin American immigrants. “No to employer sanctions” and “Equal rights for all workers,” they chanted, alternating between Mandarin and Spanish.

Nancy Wu said the CSWA opposes all the various immigration reform bills before Congress. The guest worker programs stipulated in these bills are no more than “slave labor,” she said.

Jerry Weng, a 28-year-old waiter originally from China’s Fujian province, said many restaurant workers are paid under $2 an hour. “We want fair treatment and equal rights for all workers,” he said.

At the beginning of the demonstration, half a dozen police officers charged into the marchers at Astor Place on Broadway after a sharp verbal exchange between a cop and a protester. The police initially took several people into a nearby garage. More than 1,000 demonstrators surrounded the place chanting, "Let them go!" The cops eventually arrested at least one person. Workers on the scene defused the tense situation and the march proceeded with no further incident.

Luis Madrid and Argiris Malapanis contributed to this article.

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