•  HOME 
  •  ARCHIVES 
  •  BOOKS 
  •  PDF ARCHIVE 
  •  WWP 
  •  SUBSCRIBE 
  •  DONATE 
  •  MUNDOOBRERO.ORG
  • Loading


Follow workers.org on
Twitter Facebook iGoogle




Immigrants march for drivers' licenses

Published Mar 9, 2005 3:12 PM

A hand-lettered sign reading "The Right to Drive Is a Civil Right and an Immigrant Worker Right" captured the message of a March 5 protest here by hundreds of immigrants and their supporters, who came from some of New York City's most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Chanting "What do we want? Licenses. When do we want them? Now!" protesters marched for three hours through the multi national Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens to demand that Gov. George Pataki and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles stop acting as immigration enforcement, denying them the drivers' licenses they need to work.

On Feb. 17, State Supreme Court Justice Karen S. Smith temporarily restrained DMV from taking actions that could suspend nearly 300,000 licenses statewide for immigrants who don't have Social Security cards. Some 7,000 licenses have already been suspended. Judge Smith ruled that immigrants would suffer wrongful and serious harm under the DMV's unjust practice. At a hearing scheduled for April 7, immigrant rights activists will press for a permanent injunction against the drivers' license suspensions.

Chants in Spanish, Korean, Bangla, Urdu, Hindi, Cantonese and other languages rang out as protesters moved slowly over narrow sidewalks after police refused to let them march in the street. Along the route, workers and customers crowded the windows of barbershops, nail salons, restaurants and other neighborhood storefronts--nodding, waving their support, and reaching out the door for leaflets.

The event was sponsored by Centro His pano Cuzcatlán, Desis Rising Up and Mov ing (DRUM), New Immigrant Com munity Empowerment (NICE), and the New York Civic Participation Project (NYCPP) and endorsed by 40 immigrant rights, labor and community groups and unions--including the New York Taxi Workers Alli ance, UNITE-HERE Local 100, SEIU-32BJ and New York City Labor Against War.

"The DMV's policies, including its collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security to apprehend immigrants, represent one local piece of a nationwide trend towards attacking the livelihood of millions of immigrants," said Kavitha Pawria, a legal and policy organizer at DRUM.

Delivery workers, taxi drivers and others who need licenses to work, along with their families, are suffering under DMV policies. At a concluding rally, demonstrators observed two minutes of silence for Mirza Panir, an undocumented Bangla deshi taxi driver who died two weeks ago from a stress-induced heart attack when security stopped him at LaGuardia Airport.

One protest organizer could not attend the event because he lost his license, then his delivery job, and was forced to move that day. A small child wore a sign made from a pizza box that said, "Please let my daddy drive me to school."

"People from all immigrant groups are coming together in a very historic way to say that this policy is negatively impacting everyone's families, lives and the neighborhoods where we live and work regardless of immigration status and country of origin," said Zahida Pirani, a community organizer with NYCPP.

Miguel Ramirez of Centro Hispano Cuzcatlán agreed: "This is a historic event because people from many different immigrant communities in Queens have come together for the first time around a common issue."

Shirley Lin of NICE called on elected officials, Governor Pataki and the DMV to "implement a solution that recognizes our rights."