JOLIET, Ill. — More than 1,000 people marched to the Will County Clerk’s office here April 6 to protest plans to build an immigrant detention center in Joliet. The action was one of many leading up to the May 1 mobilization in Chicago for legalization of immigrants. The proposed facility would be run privately and house as many as 700 people awaiting deportation. The jail first had been planned for Crete, but residents fought and blocked its construction there. Some participants marched with union signs and banners, including from Workers United, the Service Employees International Union and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Many carried signs that read, “No Immigrant Prison in Joliet!” Similar signs can be seen in many yards and in windows of small businesses across the city. “We have to begin to support each other,” said Burneva McCullum, who is African-American. McCullum explained that three weeks ago she helped found a new organization, the African-American and Hispanic Coalition. “Blacks and Latinos in Joliet have the same problems. We need jobs, not another prison. Too many of us are below the poverty line,” she said. March organizers in Chicago are planning for a large turnout on May 1. “On May Day 2013 no international worker goes to work. We will march to stop deportations, for legalization for all, to keep families together and for immigration reform now!” Artemio Arreola, political director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the Militant.

—BETSY FARLEY