Spring Break
A day without an immigrant
Millions rally for workers right
Reginald James
Issue date: 5/5/06 Section: Opinion
Millions of immigrants and their supporters marched and rallied in over 70 cities in the United States, Monday May 1st, in what was billed by activists as a, "Day without an immigrant." It is estimated almost one million assembled in California alone.
In California, thousands took the day off from work and school and refused to purchase any products or services, and attended the rallies. Oakland and San Jose each drew over 50,000, San Diego 15,000, while San Francisco attracted 100,000 and Los Angeles 500,000.
In Los Angeles, more than one of every four teens did not show up for school. That would have been a loss of $2 million for the Los Angeles Unified School district had the funding deadline of April 15 not passed.
The rallies were organized in opposition to the HR 4437 legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would create a 700-mile wall between the U.S./Mexico borders and make it a felony to be in the country without documentation. The debate has centered on the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants.
Each proposal on the table authorizes local police to enforce federal immigration laws, like La Migra, the Border Patrol. According to the National Immigration Law Center, "State and local police with no immigration law training could claim new authority as enforcers of criminal law to decide when someone who 'looks foreign' or 'sounds foreign' has violated federal criminal immigration law."
This makes all brown people to "fit the description," except now, the suspects would only be guilty of a misdemeanor. Problem is, the penalty for their "crime" is the same; if you don't have papers, see you later.
Everyone with brown skin would become a stigmatized "suspect."
The only difference is we would be suspects in a misdemeanor - not a felony. But the penalty for the "crime" would remain the same: For those without papers, it means deportation.
The problem lawmakers are wrestling with now is how to appear tough on immigration when our economy is dependent upon that labor source.
In California, thousands took the day off from work and school and refused to purchase any products or services, and attended the rallies. Oakland and San Jose each drew over 50,000, San Diego 15,000, while San Francisco attracted 100,000 and Los Angeles 500,000.
In Los Angeles, more than one of every four teens did not show up for school. That would have been a loss of $2 million for the Los Angeles Unified School district had the funding deadline of April 15 not passed.
The rallies were organized in opposition to the HR 4437 legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would create a 700-mile wall between the U.S./Mexico borders and make it a felony to be in the country without documentation. The debate has centered on the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants.
Each proposal on the table authorizes local police to enforce federal immigration laws, like La Migra, the Border Patrol. According to the National Immigration Law Center, "State and local police with no immigration law training could claim new authority as enforcers of criminal law to decide when someone who 'looks foreign' or 'sounds foreign' has violated federal criminal immigration law."
This makes all brown people to "fit the description," except now, the suspects would only be guilty of a misdemeanor. Problem is, the penalty for their "crime" is the same; if you don't have papers, see you later.
Everyone with brown skin would become a stigmatized "suspect."
The only difference is we would be suspects in a misdemeanor - not a felony. But the penalty for the "crime" would remain the same: For those without papers, it means deportation.
The problem lawmakers are wrestling with now is how to appear tough on immigration when our economy is dependent upon that labor source.
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