Immigrant rights activists march to House Speaker’s doorstep, vow big vote

[Omaha Steve]

Pilgrimage for justice: Immigrant rights activists march to House Speaker’s doorstep

Immigrant rights activists march to House Speaker’s doorstep, vow big vote turnout

BATAVIA, Ill. — Bearing American flags and pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary while marching to the beat of Korean drummers, some 400 immigrant workers, their families and supporters walked 50 miles from Chicago to the office of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to demand action on immigration reform and an end to raids and deportations.

The Immigrant Workers Justice Walk braved the late summer heat, beating sun and a day of rain. It ended with a Labor Day rally of 2,500, including busloads from surrounding cities and towns. Demonstrators vowed the next march would be to the polls on Nov. 7.

Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said, “We’re going to Hastert’s office because he is the single most important obstacle to just immigration laws in this country.” Hoyt added, “Hastert’s approach is to try to win Republican-only legislation through enforcement and criminalization.”




The entire event joined the fight for immigrant rights with workers’ rights. Jorge Mujica, a leader of the March 10th Coalition, called the current immigration law a “killing law,” because of the deaths of 3,000 workers crossing the southwestern desert from Mexico. “They died not on the job, but going to a job,” he said. Three thousand crosses were left on the sidewalk surrounding Hastert’s office.

Mujica called for replacing the broken immigration law with a law that allows people to work and gain citizenship, and added that current labor laws “are on the side of the corporations. This movement is a workers’ movement too and we have to change those laws.”

Lynn Talbot, international vice president of Unite Here, declared, “We can’t accept any immigration law that divides our workers or our families. Immigrants didn’t close plants. The giant corporations did.”

A group of workers from the Smithfield hog processing plant in North Carolina fighting for union recognition joined the marchers for a day. Many marchers donned their yellow T-shirts in solidarity.

FULL story at link above.

[MountainLaurel]

1. Wow, that's something not to miss

Wish I could have seen ol' Denny's face.