Minnesotans joining Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride

Star Tribune ^ | 9-23-03 | AP

[JustPiper]

Miguel Olvera-Rucoba is a legal immigrant. But the meatpacker from South St. Paul knows plenty of people who work here illegally, living in constant fear of deportation.

``They're never happy here. The person who is not legal does not feel comfortable here,'' Olvera-Rucoba, 46, said in Spanish. ``In their minds, they're thinking any time they can get in trouble real easy.''

[JustPiper]

We must greet them!

2,500 join in march to launch Freedom Ride

[Ingtar]

They ought to feel uneasy.

[JustPiper]

Ping!

[doodad]

I agree. I want them uncomfortable. Notice even the legal guy though can't speak English.

[JustPiper]

In another Paper:

Posted on Tue, Sep. 23, 2003

MINNESOTA: Ride, rally to press immigrants' rights
BY BRIAN BONNER
Pioneer Press

As a legal Mexican immigrant, Miguel Olvera-Rucoba said, he sleeps easy at night. But the South St. Paul meatpacker knows plenty of people who work in this nation illegally. He said they live in constant fear of deportation.

"They're never happy here. The person who is not legal does not feel comfortable here,'' Olvera-Rucoba, 46, said in an interview translated from Spanish. "In their minds, they're thinking any time they can get in trouble real easy."

During the next two weeks, Olvera-Rucoba will take time off from his job at Dakota Premium to take up the cause of the nation's estimated 10 million undocumented workers. The goals of the national Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which Olvera-Rucoba will join Thursday in Minneapolis, include:

• Amnesty for illegal workers as a first step toward U.S. citizenship.

• Improved workplace conditions and respect for the civil rights of all, regardless of legal status.

• The ability of relatives abroad to join illegal workers living in this country.

These goals face strong opposition. Among the critics, the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (www.fairus.org) opposes am-nesty for illegal workers. The nonprofit group also favors tighter immigration limits and tougher border controls.

"The question when we look at the whole idea is: Freedom from what? This country's immigration laws?" asked FAIR spokesman David Ray. "What happened to waiting your turn in line to immigrate legally? Here we have a group of illegal aliens, knowingly and willingly violating our immigration laws and trying to wrap themselves in the blanket of victimhood. It's outrageous."

Ray takes offense at the present-day riders' attempt to model their actions after a revered tactic used in the 1960s civil rights movement. He doubts that most Americans support legal status for people who knowingly break U.S. immigration laws to enter the nation.

But Ray also said that major changes in immigration policy, such as mass deportations, are unlikely. Too many groups have a vested interest in the status quo. "It's a marriage made in heaven," Ray said. "Unions get members, Democrats get voters and Republicans get cheap workers."

The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (www.iwfr.org) is organized by a coalition of labor unions, civil rights groups and clergy. Some 800 riders from 10 cities, including Minneapolis, will participate.

The ride ends with a rally Oct. 4 in Flushing Meadows Park, in Queens, N.Y. It includes stops in Washington, D.C., and dozens of other cities. The Minneapolis send-off will take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Powderhorn Park. About 80 people are expected to board two buses locally.

People on either side of the issue seem to agree about what is happening in America: Millions of undocumented workers hold down some of the lowest-paying and most undesirable jobs. These workers, who are vulnerable to exploitation, can be found in meatpacking plants, in restaurants and hotels, in stores and in big companies.

Three years ago, organized labor did an about-face on illegal immigrants. Unions previously viewed open immigration policies and illegal workers as a threat to the jobs and wages of law-abiding Americans. Now, led by the AFL-CIO, unions view undocumented workers as an opportunity to bolster their ranks.

"We don't care if they have a green card; we just care if they have a union card," said Bernie Hesse, special projects organizer of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 in South St. Paul. The union local represents about 8,000 workers in groceries, nursing homes, factories and meatpackers, including the Dakota Premium plant where Olvera-Rucoba works.

Raphael Espinosa, another UFCW Local 789 representative, said labor unions sometimes are the only organizations that help undocumented workers. Many U.S. employers look the other way when hiring, he said, and many of these workers seek union membership as a defense against workplace exploitation.

Espinosa admits that many UFCW members would benefit from an amnesty that gives them legal status. "I think that the biggest problem people want resolved is family reunification," Espinosa said. "They're working here, but their families are still in Mexico. Even for somebody with a work permit or a green card, reunification is still really tough to do."

Illegal workers are unlikely to step forward and take up their own cause.

"For somebody who doesn't have documents right now, the first thing they're not doing is being visible. They're invisible — doing their jobs and going home," Espinosa said. "The environment right now is really against them. In a lot of places, especially in places that don't have unions, they are being taken advantage of."

Even illegal residents need to show some kind of identification documents to be hired, Espinosa said, even if the documents are of questionable validity.

"They're not very good documents," Espinosa said. "As long as they have documents, the company can say, 'They showed me this.' That's how they get away with hiring a lot of undocumented workers. Some corporations have become so dependent on the undocumented labor force that there's no way they will allow raids or arrests to happen."

Olvera-Rucoba thinks that illegal workers will remain in limbo for years, a victim of the nation's conflicting attitude toward their presence. But the meatpacker's assessment of the political realities will not dissuade him from what he views as a long-term campaign.

"I'm very excited to be joining the people," Olvera-Rucoba said. "I want to help some other people who are not legal. I want to be part of it, even though I don't think (amnesty) is going to happen for 10 or 15 years."

[50sDad]

"They're never happy here."

Then we should do the kindly thing and ship them home as fast as possible. When they come back, they can apply for citizenship as millions of others have, and after the years of waiting and doing it legally, they will be much happier when they are legally accepted into this country.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Unions get members, Democrats get voters and Republicans get cheap workers.Really should read, "business gets cheap workers".

But how true. That's what we're up against.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[JustPiper]

They ought to feel uneasy.

I don't know about that. Law enforcement is tols across the country to leave them alone, no arrests or INS/DHS involvement. I do know that Kansas,Reno, and now Arizona at Nogales/Tucson are organizing Freepes and other things!

[JustPiper]

There are groups at the border's trying to escort them back because our government has left word across the nation they are NOT to be touched or arrested! Check the schedule, see if a Freep is forming near you! Wish I was in DC!

[jimt]

Minnesotans joining Immigrant Workers Illegal Parasites' Freedom Ride

How about a little honesty in the headline?

[JustPiper]

How about helping? There are the most relevant links on this thread how to do it very easily!
Stop this NOW

[wildbill]

First thing you do is arrest the legal green card holders and US citizens as 'coyotes' who are conspiring to break the immigration laws with illegal aliens.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>>They're never happy here. The person who is not legal does not feel comfortable here.

Dial 1-800-waaaaah

[Clemenza]

Didn't the former Governor of Minnesota (the guy before Ventura) or the Mayor of Minneappolis once openly call for immigrants to come to Minnesota and to make the state the "Ellis Island of the Midwest?"

[gubamyster]

ping

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Counter Protest link:http://www.millionamericanmarch.com/Welcomingcommittees.htm

[FITZ]

But the South St. Paul meatpacker knows plenty of people who work in this nation illegally.

Homeland Security is a big joke --- how much are we paying for it? Meanwhile millions of people are coming into this country --- no criminal background checks, no health checks, no connections with terrorist groups checks.

[JustPiper]

Attention Minn. Freepers- thanx to 41.odanasupertracpak for finding the following, Counter Protest... please show up! Minneapolis, MN -Sept. 25
Powderhorn Park from 5-9pm
The (so called) Freedom riders (more like getting something for free riders) are coming through Minneapolis Thursday Sept. 25th. Anyone (all Patriots welcome) willing to assist in standing against these illegal aliens and their America hating cohorts, is welcome to come. We intend to protest against these scum in Minneapolis.

[JustPiper]

DHS is at the top of my call list beginning 9-28!