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Immigrant Boycott to Bring US Life to Standstill
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"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. (Reuters)
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US
CITIES, April 27, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -
Immigrant groups and advocates are planning to bring life in several
US cities to a standstill on May 1 with nationwide marches and boycott
of work and schools to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants.
"There
will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles
alone," Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize
earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it debates the
issue, told Reuters on Thursday, April 27.
"We're
going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix,
Fresno," he added.
The
rallies are expected to be the largest protests since the civil rights
era of the 1960s.
The
fate of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants has split
Congress, the Republican Party and public opinion.
A
bill passed by the US House of Representatives in December making it a
felony to be in the country illegally and proposing a fence along
parts of the Mexican border.
Many,
including President George W. Bush, want a guest worker program and a
path to citizenship.
"We
want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here
(illegally)," Rodriguez said.
"That
is the message that is going to be played out across the country on
May 1."
Standstill
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A file photo of a pro-immigrants rally in downtown Los Angeles. (Reuters)
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Organizers
of the May Day marches, which have strong support from big labor and
the Roman Catholic church, vow that America's major cities will grind
to a halt.
Economy
is also expected to stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and skip
school.
Teachers'
unions in major cities have said children should not be punished for
walking out of class.
A
spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said school
principals had been told that they should not try to keep students in
class but instead should walk with the children to help keep order.
In
Chicago, Catholic priests have helped organize protests, sending
information to all 375 parishes in the archdiocese.
Chicago
activists predict that the demonstrations will draw 300,000 people --
compared to the 100,000 who turned out on March 10 to clog downtown
streets.
Minneapolis-based
agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. said it will close seven meatpacking
plants so workers can participate.
Hungry
In
New York, leaders of the May 1 Coalition said a growing number of
businesses had pledged to close and allow their workers to attend a
rally in Manhattan's Union Square.
But
if all the city's immigrants walk off the job, many New Yorkers will
go hungry, or at least be forced to eat at home for a change.
Anthony
Bourdain, author of "Kitchen Confidential" and executive
chef at Brasserie Les Halles, said immigrant workers are an often
invisible presence in New York restaurants.
"Every
time you read a restaurant review they always say 'The chef has a sure
hand with the spices.' If the chef's name is widely known, the chances
are it's really some Mexican guy who has a sure hand with the
spices."
The
Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York which promotes workers'
rights says 70 percent of the New York food workforce of 165,000 is
foreign-born, and up to 40 percent of are undocumented.
Workers
of Chinese background are the largest group, with many Latin
Americans, Arabs, Africans and Afro-Carribeans, said the center's
director Saru Jayaraman.
The
US food services industry employs 1.6 million foreign-born workers,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Intimidation
Critics
have accused pro-immigrant leaders of stirring up uninformed young
Latinos by telling them that their parents were in imminent danger of
being deported and accuse them of trying to bully Congress.
"It's
intimidation," Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman volunteer
border patrol group, said of the May 1 events.
"It's
intimidation when a million people march down main streets in our
major cities under the Mexican flag."
"It
angers the people you are trying to impress," he said. "This
will backfire just like the Mexican flag parades backfired."
Others
have expressed ambivalence about the boycott and marches, saying they
could stir up anti-immigrant sentiment.
"Personally
I believe we can make May 1st a 'win-win' day here in Southern
California," Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese
said in a statement.
Mahony,
who has emerged as an outspoken champion of immigrant rights, has
lobbied against a walkout.
"Go
to work, go to school, and then join thousands of us at a major rally
afterword."
Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the son of a Mexican immigrant who
has long fought for immigrant rights, has taken a low profile on the
issue.
A
spokeswoman said the mayor expects protesters to be "lawful and
respectful" and wants children to stay in school.
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