Vol. 81/No. 11 March 20, 2017
LA: SWP demands amnesty for undocumented workers!
AND LAURA GARZA
Richter joined some 100 people at a rally in front of the immigration court building here March 6 to demand freedom for Avelica-Gonzalez, a 48-year-old restaurant worker picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of a 2014 deportation order. The father of four children born in the U.S., he has lived here for 25 years.
“My dad is very strong, and that’s why we are here,” said Jocelyn Avelica, one of his daughters. Family members and others who responded to his arrest and prevented his immediate deportation.
His deportation order is based on a driving-without-a-license misdemeanor charge, a 1998 charge of accepting stolen property — because he bought a registration sticker that was not issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles — and a 10-year-old misdemeanor DUI charge.
“We have to demand amnesty because the threat of deportation can be held over workers’ heads as long as they can’t get some status,” Richter told a group of students at the rally. “That’s a problem for all working people, because if you want to fight for better conditions and for unions you have to involve all the workers. If the bosses can threaten some of us with deportation, or check their papers and fire them, there’s a permanent, second-class section of the workforce. That makes it harder to unify and organize.”
During the lively mayoral debate on FOX radio March 3, the 10 candidates were asked by a former Los Angeles County cop what they would do to support law enforcement. Many pointed to statistics saying crime is going up in Los Angeles and pledged funding to get more cops.
“If you are a working person you don’t get justice from cops, prosecutors or jails. In this class-divided society, cops mete out ‘justice’ on the streets,” Richter said. “Cops in L.A. County have been involved in over 1,400 shootings since 2000 and zero have been charged with any crimes.”
When asked if he supported Los Angeles being a sanctuary city, he said, “I’m for amnesty for all immigrants living in the U.S. This opens the door for immigrants to join in the fights working people need to wage for jobs, infrastructure and health care. This is a life or death question for the labor movement.”
Richter spoke at a March 2 public hearing in Boyle Heights on the 30 years of Exide Technologies’ battery-recycling plant’s toxic contamination of working-class neighborhoods in the area.
“It has been two years since community action forced the plant to close and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is still holding hearings on how to proceed with the cleanup,” Richter told the 75 people at the hearing. “Working people in this area are being adversely affected and this is not being treated as a public health crisis on the federal, state or county level.
“The bosses make big profits from our labor with no regard for our health or safety,” he said. “We will join your fight for the government to mobilize all the resources necessary to clean this up.”
Richter joined other Socialist Workers Party campaigners in discussions at worker’s doorsteps March 4 in Fullerton, not far from where an off-duty policeman attacked 13-year-old Christian Dorscht Feb. 21. Sara Hertl, whose brother Justin was killed by the Anaheim police in 2003, joined in campaigning. She urged people to read the Militant and explained how she has participated in regular protests with family members whose relatives were killed by the Anaheim police.
At a campaign meeting in Los Angeles March 4, Richter condemned recent bomb threats made to four Jewish Community Centers, in Irvine, Long Beach, La Jolla and the Westside Jewish Center in Los Angeles.
“These threats here and nationwide are expressions of Jew-hatred, a deadly poison for working people,” Richter said. “The goal of Jew-hatred is to turn workers’ attention against the Jews and take the heat off the bosses, who are responsible for the crisis-ridden capitalist system and the depression-like conditions it is forcing on our backs.”
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