Posted on 05/02/2002 12:27:56 PM PDT by 4America
LOS ANGELES - More than 5,000 people marched downtown to call for amnesty for illegal immigrants and freedom for foreign detainees.
May Day marchers held signs that read "Legalization Now" and chanted while marching to a steady drum beat. They held a sit-in in front of Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites)' Los Angeles office before holding a candlelight vigil outside the downtown Federal Building.
Police Department officers stood at every corner, some in riot gear, and a police helicopter hovered overhead, but there were no reports of problems.
"This is the international day of workers, and we want to call attention to workers' rights," said Ricardo Moreno, spokesman for the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights. His group and the other 80 organizations that sponsored the May Day rally want U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) to grant amnesty to all illegal workers.
"Most of these people are hard-working. They work in restaurants, clean houses and at car washes, and deserve to be treated fairly," Moreno said.
The groups also want the state to issue driver's licenses and identification cards to undocumented workers.
Davis, state Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, law enforcement representatives and immigrant rights advocates have been trying to craft a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.
The demonstration in Los Angeles was one of several May Day events in cities around the world.
"This march will serve as a testimony that immigrants not only work hard, but they can also unite and demand their rights as taxpayers," said Myron Payes, of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
Demonstrators protested the detention of hundreds of Arab and Muslim immigrants since the Sept. 11 attacks. They also denounced other forms of "immigrant bashing," such as impending rules that will force thousands of noncitizens to leave their jobs as airport security workers.
Sorry, no can do. We're still understaffed and 95% of us are on the border. And even if we could, I don't think President Bush would approve.
Pssst. Ricardo, let them do it in their own country.
On a one-to-one basis this usually works. But this is a massive problem. A clear and present danger to our sovereignty. But not enough people care or even are aware of the immensity of the threat, starting at the top.
Wonder if most of the third worlders allied themselves and then did what invaders always do e.g. kill, loot, pillage, rape etc. Of course most Americans would march against them shouting "love," "peace," and waiving palm fronds. Slavery and service to third worlders might be ok as long as Americans are allowed eating, drinking(drugs), copulating, evacuation and snoring.(In their spare time)
Please believe me, many, if not most, of the marchers were illegals.
Luvbach1 at the border in San Diego
Reforma (Translated)
Mexico: Gov't seeks bus company bids to deport illegals
To transfer the foreign undocumented workers detained throughout the country, the National Migration Institute [INM] put out a call for bids for at least 8,200 bus trips between June and December of this year, an average of 40 trips per day. -- The Institute has 235 routes established to transport undocumented workers to the detention centers where they are kept until their legal situations are reviewed.
If things keep going unchecked in their current direction, just wait long enough and you'll be able to buy the real thing at the local tienda.
I tried to organize people to spend some time on the border (on private property) to literally guard the border against illegals crossing, and the the response was underwhelming. In other words, none, zip, nada. Nobody wants to be an active participant unless it is to be done through a keyboard.
Things won't change until there is some dramatic event involving illegals to wake US citizens from their cushy slumber. You would think that 9-11 would have been the wake up call, but the American people just rolled over and hit the snooze button. I'm beginning to think that we deserve what is going to happen to us.
Calling the vigilantes.
This is a case that we all need to watch closely, to see if the Tyson execs actually get prosecuted. Tossing some of these corporate lawbreakers in Club Fed for a year or two would send a message to their fellow scofflaws. I think there is also a class action suit being filed against Tyson by American employees who were displaced by Tyson's policy of hiring illegals.
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