First travelers, then airport workers
Arrests of immigrants spark protests
By Adrian Garcia
Los Angeles
"Que queremos? Justicia!--What do we want? Justice!"
reverberated from a crowd of hundreds marching through Los
Angeles International Airport on March 28, amidst glares from
bewildered travelers. The march's destination was LAX's
terminal one, which has been the scene of recent INS raids
against the undocumented, mostly Mexican immigrants.
The protesters came from local unions, church groups and
immigrant rights groups, and included a great number of
immigrant workers. All called for an end to the vitriolic
government policy of detaining and arresting immigrants in
airports.
In the first two weeks of the new policy, from March 18 to
March 27, 184 suspected undocumented immigrants were arrested
before boarding flights to destinations throughout the country,
reported the Los Angeles Times on March 27. Images of these
fascist-like sweeps were broadcast on Spanish-language
television, arousing grave indignation within the Mexican and
Latin American communities. "I have done nothing but work hard
since I got here. The raids are unjust. La migra is just
harassing us for being Mexican," commented Alfredo, one of the
protesters.
Federal authorities admit the sweeps against immigrants have
proven unsuccessful in curtailing the smuggling networks they
profess to be fighting. Nevertheless, INS officials have made
it clear that the sweeps will continue.
The attack on immigrants at airports by the federal
government has expanded its aim and gone beyond harassing
travelers to targeting airport employees. Some 200 airport
workers have reportedly been arrested throughout the western
U.S. Under "Operation Tarmac" the INS is currently reviewing
the employment records of airport employees at LAX. This
operation has resulted in arrests in Boston, Salt Lake City,
Seattle, Las Vegas and elsewhere.
This blatant assault on immigrants' rights was widened
further with a March 27 ruling from the Supreme Court
concerning the right of undocumented workers to sue if they are
summarily dismissed for unjust reasons. In Hoffman Plastic
Compounds vs. NLRB, Jose Castro and three of his co-workers
were fired for distributing union cards to workers in their
plant. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that illegal
immigrants who are wrongly fired for union organizing are not
entitled to back pay.
Immigrant rights activists and union leaders immediately
condemned the decision and warned that the ruling undercuts the
rights of the most vulnerable workers. "This decision will
allow employers to victimize undocumented workers and escape
the consequences for doing so," stated Jonathan Hiat, a lawyer
for the AFL-CIO. As always, the workers suffer legal
ramifications for simply working at jobs that are poorly paid
while the capitalist bosses exploit the labor force and are
freed from legal scrutiny.
This series of aggressive attacks against honest,
hard-working people exposes the duplicitous and conniving
policy of the Bush administration. Not even a year ago George
W. Bush was courting Mexico's President Vicente Fox and the
Mexican-American community in the U.S. with professions of
friendship. Fox and others were fooled by Bush's empty promises
of coming to a favorable agreement concerning the large number
of undocumented workers of Mexican origin in this country. The
Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., gave the
Bush administration the excuse it was looking for to distance
itself from any further negotiations concerning legalization of
undocumented workers in the U.S.
The Bush administration's reactionary policies will not go
uncontested. The working people's protest at Los Angeles
International Airport is just one step forward in the struggle
for the rights of undocumented workers.
Reprinted from the April 11, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page