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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/02/2003 1:30:27 AM PDT by sarcasm
They aren't expecting the kind of violence that greeted the 1961 Freedom Riders who traveled into the deep South to protest segregation. But they see themselves as waging a similar battle for social justice and fuller integration into American society.
Calling their journey the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR), some 900 travelers are crisscrossing the country in 18 buses advocating for reforms, including the controversial legalization of workers in the US illegally.
Their immigrant "freedom ride" - expected to end Saturday with a 100,000-strong rally in New York - comes as the nation continues to grapple with immigrant-driven demographic growth. In the 1990s, more than 13 million immigrants arrived, impacting US population growth at a level unprecedented in the 20th century. Moreover, an estimated 9 million people reside in the US illegally.
This week's bus rides, prayer vigils, and rallies also come at a time when the war on terrorism has stalled talk of steps such as creating a new "guest worker" program to address illegal employment and border crossing.
"Immigration is, on net, a very positive force ... but right now, immigration policy and labor-market policy are completely disconnected," says Paul Harrington, associate director of Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies, which is not affiliated with the riders. "It's important for people to really start thinking through what contributions we expect immigration to make to American society, and what ... society then owes immigrants."
The diverse crowd of riders - Mexicans and Bangladeshis, undocumented workers and longtime US citizens - is pushing for better conditions for legal as well as illegal immigrants. Their four-point agenda focuses on workplace policies, civil liberties, faster reunification of families, as well as official status for illegal workers.
"It is unjust to maintain second-class status for people who in all other respects are Americans - in their commitment to work, to family, to their communities," says David Koff, an IWFR spokesman and a member of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. "They are here and will continue to come, regardless of the law, because the economy needs more workers and the conditions in their home countries propel them to search for employment."
Others, however, see the bus ride as a slap in the face to citizens and foreigners waiting in line to get here. "What this really should be called is the free ride, because what they want is freedom from playing by the rules," says David Ray, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington. Immigrants here legally, he says, have as much recourse as any other workers who face abuses on the job.
The problem with amnesties for the undocumented, Mr. Harrington says, is that flooding the bottom of the labor market brings down wages. During the recent economic slump, he says, the number of native-born workers dropped by 1.5 million, while the number of employed immigrants rose by 600,000.
Still, some labor unions have been reaching out to the undocumented in recent years, hoping to expand the base of workers they represent. The AFL-CIO is among the sponsors of this week's bus ride, along with interfaith organizations, and immigrant-advocacy groups.
The stories told by riders who departed from Boston this week suggest that the line between "legal" and "illegal" is not always clear-cut to immigrants themselves.
Jean Carmel St.-Juste, a Haitian legal resident of the US, staffs a hotline for the nonprofit Massachusetts Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health. One man told Mr. St.-Juste that he was cut severely and his boss simply told him to go buy a bandage and get back to work. Later he visited a doctor, who gave him 10 stitches. "If I was legal," the man told St.-Juste, "I wouldn't let my boss do that to me." It turned out that he was married to a US citizen and had a work permit, but because he was still waiting for a green card, he didn't know he was "legal."
Manuel Monterrosi, a Boston rider from El Salvador, gained asylum status in 1994 and permission to work two years later. Now a janitor, he has full- and a part-time jobs that pay just over $10 an hour. Every month, he sends $400 back to El Salvador, but he hasn't been authorized to visit his parents and five siblings there.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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False. Immigration is not a "very positive force" unless you believe that a Ponzi scheme is a very positive force.
Tell them how you feel, the illegals are flooding DC swiutchboards today and so must WE!
That's what I think. I bet no illegals organized any of this, I'm not sure any are even on those buses ---- what happens to an illegal who doesn't show up for work because they're going to go on some big protest? Their employers replace them with new illegals. Maybe some illegals with anchor babies who get a welfare check would risk this kind of thing --- they're not in any risk of deportation or losing a job.
A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale has hit Mexico.Two million Mexicans have died and over a million are injured. The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to Start with providing help to rebuild. The rest of the world is in shock.
Canada is sending troopers to help the Mexican army control the riots.
The European community (except France) is sending food and money.
The United States, not to be outdone, is sending two million replacement Mexicans.
God Bless America!
Tisk, tisk, we should not be so short sighted as to suggest we only provide a 1 - 1 Replacement Aid Package. In order to insure true recovery (in the form of a postive replacement ratio) and long term growth, we need to send as many as possable, as ""the illegals provide 25 billion dollars in tax revenue for all of our benefit. ""
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/991884/posts (bottom of the article...)
If they are worth 25 billion to us here in the u.S. just THINK of what they will be worth upon their return to mexico.
bttt ...
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