Immigrant rights protest unites the issues

“We beat back Sensenbrenner, now for round two of the struggle,” said Walter Pacheco from the New York-based Ecuadorian group, Pachamama, as 2,000 rallied for immigrant rights at Union Square on Oct. 21.

People of all ages take to the streets for immigrant rights Oct. 21. Photo: Roberto Mercado

Organized by New York United for Immigrant Rights, a coalition of over 60 groups, the protesters called for legalization, family reunification, and an end to raids, deportations and deaths at the border. They rejected all congressional anti-immigrant legislation.

Activists from the South Asian, African American, Caribbean, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Asian Pacific Islander communities spoke of the relationship of their struggles to economic and social crises in the developing countries and immigration.

WW photo: G. Dunkel

In the bright fall sunshine, eight-year-old Joshua James told how he felt when, three years ago, “Daddy was taken to jail in his bathrobe and deported to Jamaica. The government says it is for families,” said Josh. “But I miss my daddy and the government took him away.”

New York City Councilperson John Liu questioned a government which says it is in favor of family values while conducting an immigration policy which destroys families, leaving children like Josh orphaned by deportation raids.

La Guardia Community College student Álvaro López described how immigration policy targets youth. City University of New York charges undocumented students twice the tuition of foreign students with papers.

Monique Dols, an organizer of the recent Columbia University protest against Jim Gilchrist, the leader of the xenophobic Minutemen, said: “We were viciously attacked by the Minutemen and their supporters and are now vilified by the corporate media. We didn’t create the violence; we exposed the racists’ violence.”

WW photo: Lal Roohk

“We need to protest in schools, universities, with Black and white, Latin@s, Asians, Africans, unifying to oppose racism,” said Rádamas Pérez, representing the Dominican community in Washington Heights, N.Y.

Bobby Khan, a Pakistani activist, said: “Since 9/11, the U.S. government has repressed us, arresting people in their mosques [as terrorists]. Last week there was a mass deportation of 40 men to Pakistan. We are victims of a lie, arrested, held in prisons without charges, and tortured.”

Hilda, from Esperanza del Barrio, a group of street vendors in East Harlem, said no one is illegal. “We live in fear of the migra [the Border Patrol]. But we are really the victims of a global economy that forced us here. I ask you: where would the U.S. be without the labor of my brothers and sisters?”

“How can there be a concept like ‘illegal workers?’” asked DRUM representative Rishi Singh. “Here is what is illegal: 4,000 have died in the desert trying to cross to the U.S.! $337 billion for an illegal war in Iraq!”

New York City Councilperson Charles Barron said: “This is a city of immigrants, and unless you are an Indigenous person, you are an immigrant to this city. They stole us from Africa to build this nation, making profits for the capitalists that we never shared. This is your story too. Immigrants must unite and support Black issues. We should bring the troops home, and use the money to provide jobs in New York City and across the U.S.”

Lamis Deek from Al-Awda spoke passionately about the poverty, unemployment, homelessness and violence Palestinians face. “Just days ago, an Israeli company got a contract to build a ‘border security’ fence between the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. took the most fertile land from Mexico, and the Zionist Israelis did the same with the Palestinian land. ... That government is right now planning an attack on Gaza. Like you, we struggle so we can live free.”

Protesters carried a “wall” representing those who died at the border wall as they marched towards Times Square, chanting “Sí se puede” (yes, we can).