May Day rallies defend the rights of immigrants, strengthen unions

By Brian Williams
Vol. 89/No. 19
May 19, 2025
Jennifer Vasquez Sura speaks at May 1 march in Washington, D.C., organized by immigrant rights group CASA. She is wife of unionist Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was denied due process, deported to El Salvador. His union, SMART, AFL-CIO, others are calling for his release, return.
Militant/Samir HazbounJennifer Vasquez Sura speaks at May 1 march in Washington, D.C., organized by immigrant rights group CASA. She is wife of unionist Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was denied due process, deported to El Salvador. His union, SMART, AFL-CIO, others are calling for his release, return.

Defense of the rights of immigrant workers, including calls for amnesty for all workers without papers in the U.S. and against deportations, was an important feature of May Day actions mounted by unions and others around the country. Many demanded the U.S. government return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to his family in Maryland.

Abrego Garcia is a sheet metal apprentice and member of the SMART union, who the government admits was “mistakenly” deported March 15 and imprisoned in El Salvador. He was denied the right to a hearing despite the fact that he was protected by a court order barring him from being sent back there. The Trump administration now says it’s powerless to do anything about this, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the White House to facilitate his return.

April 30 march in Olympia, Washington, demands immigration police release Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a leader of farmworkers union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, from detention.
Militant/Barry FatlandApril 30 march in Olympia, Washington, demands immigration police release Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a leader of farmworkers union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, from detention.

“On behalf of our unions and the more than 15 million workers we represent, we write to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and request his immediate release from detention and return to the United States,” the AFL-CIO and other unions said in a May 1 letter to the Salvadoran ambassador to the U.S.

It is signed by Elizabeth Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO; Michael Coleman, general president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, Abrego Garcia’s union; Gwen Mill, president of UNITE HERE; and James Williams Jr., general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

“The vilification, dehumanization and erosion of rights and due process for immigrants in the United States is a direct threat to the rights of all working people,” the unions said. “We demand release and full due process for all other workers who have been unjustly arrested or deported, and jailed in El Salvador.”

Below are reports on some of the actions across the country.

‘My husband was illegally detained because of gov’t error’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several thousand people filled the streets here May 1 with union contingents and members from SMART, UNITE HERE, Communications Workers of America, Laborers’ International Union of North America, National Education Association, Service Employees International Union 32BJ and others. CASA, an immigration rights group in Maryland, sponsored the event and led off the march.

Demonstrators carried signs “Due process for all” — referring to the government’s deportations while offering no chance for those picked up to show there is no basis for their removal — and “Immigrant rights are workers’ rights.” Chants of “Sí se puede” and “Who do we want? Kilmar. When do we want him? Now!” rang out.

At the Lafayette Park rally, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia’s wife, was the keynote speaker. “My husband was illegally detained, abducted and disappeared, thrown into one of the most dangerous prisons in El Salvador to die with no due process — because of the government’s error,” she said. “The highest court in the nation has ruled that Kilmar should be returned home, so why are we still waiting?

“My strength comes from my faith, and you guys, CASA and the unions. Keep fighting not just for Kilmar but for every family fighting to be reunited with their loved one,” she said.

Vasquez Sura faces not only the fight to bring her husband back, but an unrelenting U.S. government campaign to violate her right to privacy, in an effort to excuse its illegal conduct by criminalizing her and her family.

“She is under tremendous pressure — not only from the U.S. government, but from the state in El Salvador. They paint a picture of the prison that Kilmar is in as being like summer camp. But don’t be fooled. It is run by the guards and the gangs,” Carmen Rodriguez, a protester originally from El Salvador, told this Militant worker-correspondent at the rally. “A discussion is opening up in El Salvador about what we face and what to do about it.”

Other speakers at the rally included Becky Pringle, president of the NEA, and Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of SEIU 32BJ.

Later on May Day, 200 UNITE HERE Local 25 members and supporters held an informational picket line at the newly reopened Occidental restaurant to support restaurant workers’ right to organize unions in D.C. Local 25 is organizing at several restaurants here owned by the STARR restaurant group, including St. Anselm, where the union won an election.

— Arlene Rubinstein

Thousands rally in Seattle and around the state

SEATTLE — Over 2,000 people rallied at the Cal Anderson Park here and marched through downtown demanding due process for immigrants facing deportation. The rally was built by the Washington State Labor Council and included members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000 and the SEIU.Joining the action were more than 100 faculty members, staff and students who had walked out at Seattle Central College. Demonstrators said teachers face threats of layoffs and furloughs. “The state has not been investing in higher education for decades,” Helena Romero, a teacher at the school, told the media.In Tacoma, some 800 people rallied May 1 and marched to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Northwest Detention Center, where Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a leader of the farmworkers union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, is being held. He was arrested March 25 and threatened with deportation. A hearing in his case has been set for November.Protesters also demanded freedom for other workers and union members who have been threatened with deportation. This includes Lewelyn Dixon, a member of SEIU Local 925, who is also detained at this facility, and 37 workers arrested April 2 at the Mt. Baker Roofing Company warehouse in Bellingham.On April 30, 75 people marched in Olympia, the state capital, demanding Gov. Robert Ferguson take action to free Juarez.More than 500 people marched and rallied in Yakima, another farmworker center. “It’s time to ask for amnesty for all immigrants. It’s time to organize to make sure our brothers and sisters are not disappeared,” Dulce Gutierrez, a former Yakima City Council member, told the crowd.

— Jacob Perasso