The message was the same: a demand for a just immigration reform, but there were not as many marchers as last year.
According to the May 1 Coalition, close to 5,000 people marched on the streets leading to Union Square in Manhattan, where several pro immigrant organizations gathered. Estimates indicate that last year the numbers were closer to 20,000.
For Mexican Nuemi T., who participated in the second May 1 march, the silence sent a strong message: “Our absence due to our fear of the many raids showed more than ever that we need immigration reform, that we exists, that we do a lot and contribute greatly to the wealth of this country,” commented the 25-year old, who is undocumented and has been living in New York for six years. Around us echoed calls for “Bush, listen to the people,” and “We are workers and humans, not illegals.”
Moments before, there had been a religious service at Judson Memorial with leaders from several religions. Following the event, participants came out into Washington Square and put up a genealogical tree that displayed the cost of the suffering: the separation of families caused by deportation. Numerous immigrants wrote on pieces of paper shaped like leaves the names of loved ones who have been deported or from whom they are separated and cannot see because of their own immigration status.
“My mother has lost the ability to talk and I cannot communicate with her. I am afraid to leave the country and that I will have trouble coming back in to work so I can support my eight children,” said Guadalupe V., who was born in Puebla, and was accompanied by his wife and children.
Others like Julio Canete, who is under deportation orders, came out to march because “I have nothing to lose.” The Mexican from Toluca was detained with his family while living in a hotel in Michigan.
“I am marching to say, stop attacking us,” said the construction worker, adding, “We are workers, good parents, good neighbors.”
Dressed in executive’s clothes and just out from a meeting at the World Bank, economist Rosalinda Baez, who works in a statistics company, came to the march because she too had suffered through an immigration raid.
“I was in Austin, Texas at a restaurant when suddenly we were told we had to leave because immigration officials had raided the kitchen and taken the entire staff,” explained Baez, who is Dominican.
“It was then that I realized that something had to be done. This situation is not acceptable. We need immigrants and we are wasting money arresting them and deporting them. That’s why I came to this march. I am also thinking of projects to use the mechanisms of globalization to benefit Latin American countries,” said the economist.
For Hector Figueroa, secretary treasurer for SEIU 32BJ, a union with 85,000 members, two-thirds of them Latinos, “the detentions don’t help us resolve the immigration problem. They only produce fear, like the one projected in this march,” the said the labor organizer.
When there was a request for a minute of silence for those who have lost their lives crossing the border illegally, Ecuadorian Miguel M. lowered the U.S. flags he had been selling the marchers and thought of two friends who had headed north fro his country and whom he never heard from again.
“It is sad, but in my country we know the men have to leave in order to put food on the table for his children,” said Miguel, father of five children who still live in Ecuador.
Activities in New Jersey
With low public participation, compared to activities last year, yesterday the Garden State celebrated International Workers Day in several cities.
In the early morning hours, close to 30 people gathered at Riverview Fiske Park in Jersey City, and with signs in hand they marched towards Washington Park in Union City, calling out: “United, the people will never be defeated!”
Pedro Rivas, president of Acorn, one of the community groups that organized the march, commented on the low attendance at the event, “People didn’t show up because they were afraid after hearing rumors that immigration authorities were going to be present and conduct a massive raid.”
Mariela Ramos, a resident in Union City, was not afraid. With sign in hand, she said, “I support immigration reform. I don’t have papers, but I pay hundreds of dollars a year in taxes that my employer deducts from my pay and I can’t reclaim that money because I cannot file tax returns.”
The Mayor of Union City, Assemblyman Brian Stack for District 33, and Hudson County legislators Eliu Rivera and Jeff Dublin joined the marchers. In Paramus, more than 150 people gathered in front of Congressman Scott Garret’s offices.
Noberto Curitomai, president of the Committee for the Defense of Immigrant Rights, explained, “We are demanding that the Congressman Garret and all those who are opposed to immigration reform to change their anti-immigrant stance and to work to make reform a reality before the year is out.”
Carrying a gigantic U.S. flag, protestors called out in support of “the 12 million undocumented immigrants” who live in the United States.
Paramus Mayor James J. Tedesco III, who also attended the march, said he was in favor of giving undocumented immigrants “the chance to stay here because they make up an important and essential labor force.”
Meanwhile, in Bridgeton, located in the southern part of the state, hundreds of local workers marched through the streets demanding an end to the raids. A second march was being organized in Morristown as this paper went to press.
Senator Robert Menendez commented that the marches “represent the ongoing support for a new, sensible and just reform to the immigration system.”
