More than 10,000 march for immigrant rights

More than 10,000 people came out to Mitchell Park here for a noontime rally on Sept. 12 as part of a National Day of Action protesting an August Homeland Security announcement regarding “no match” Social Security letters. Similar Sept. 12 actions took place in at least 15 U.S. cities. The rally was part of a “No work, no school, no purchases” day—a boycott.

Mitchell Park is on the South Side of Milwaukee, where tens of thousands of Latin@s reside. More than 100,000 Latin@s live in the metropolitan Milwaukee area. The rally drew a wide range of participants from many progressive organizations, including unions, as well as immigrants from virtually every continent.

The main demand was that the Bush administration remove the new rule immediately and stop the repression of immigrant families.

Under the new rule, an employer would be obligated to re-verify the legal status of workers identified on the Social Security “no match” letter and fire workers who could not correct the problem within 90 days. Employers who do not follow through with these steps could face fines and criminal charges in the event of an immigration audit in the future.

The new rule, if implemented, would have a catastrophic effect on the working class, particularly those attempting to organize unions. Thus in August a legal complaint on behalf of the AFL-CIO, the ACLU, NILC and the Alameda County Labor Council in California affirmed that the new rule would lead to thousands of legal workers losing their jobs because of inaccuracies in the Social Security database.

“We want to send the message, like other cities are doing, that we want the new rule stopped,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, founder and director of Voces de la Frontera, a worker and immigrant-rights organization in Milwaukee that sponsored the protest.

Neumann-Ortiz added that if the new “no match” Social Security rule is allowed to stand, “It would create a social and economic crisis for millions of workers, documented and undocumented.”

Due to the massive pressure on the street and in the legal arena by labor and community organizations, a federal judge has issued a temporary order blocking the “no match” rule until an Oct. 1 hearing.

There had been massive outreach for the Milwaukee rally. Thousands of leaflets and a full color eight-page bilingual Voces newspaper were distributed throughout the metro Milwaukee area for days leading up to the rally.

Neuman-Ortiz said Voces is organizing a rapid response team of volunteers to help families and workers who are attacked by Homeland Security and/or employers.

Isauro Blas volunteered for the Voces rapid response team at the rally. He took a vacation day to attend. Blas said: “We all have to lend our support. I want to help families who are here.” (jsonline.com)

“All workers must speak up with one voice and say no to Social Security match,” said Douglas Drake, organizing coordinator for the United Steel Workers union.

As part of outreach for the rally, immediately before her deportation Elvira Arellano had called for a National Day of action Sept. 12.

Days before the rally, Arellano’s 8-year-old child “Saulito,” and his guardians Emma Lozano and the Rev. Walter Coleman, participated in a news conference here. They both supported the Sept. 12 actions. Arellano took part in the news conference by phone link from Mexico.