May Day 2006

FROM Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico.  For a free electronic subscription, email fnsnews@nmsu.edu:

April 25, 2006  Immigration News, The Historic Days of May Loom (an excerpt)

Millions of people on both sides of the US-Mexico border are expected to take part in an unprecedented May 1 protest in support of the legalization of undocumented immigrants who work and live in El Norte. The cross-border action is the next stage in a surprise mass movement that erupted on US streets last month. But a call to action that was originally billed as a general work and shopping strike in the United States, has evolved into a more varied protest that will manifest different forms in different places. Protest marches, consumer boycotts, public forums, and even work stoppages are being organized in scores of localities. David McField, a Los Angeles pro-immigrant activist of Nicaraguan-origin, termed as “mean and ungrateful” the treatment of workers who have made the US “bigger and more powerful.” Said McField, “Latin Americans have had to come here because we haven’t had opportunities in our own countries. The US government, not the US people, has helped perpetuate the conditions of exploitation in our countries..that’t why we ask that the North American people support us.” Spreading far and wide, the outcome of the pending May Day protest is as unpredictable as the movement few could have envisioned just a couple months ago. Concerns over the reported firings of some US immigrant workers who participated in earlier work stoppages and protests on April 10 and fears about an anti-immigrant backlash are creating tactical differences within the US movement. In Los Angeles, for instance, two broad coalitions, the March 25 Movement and Somos America, are sponsoring separate marches at different times. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are urging people to go to work and attend school on May 1, but encouraging participation in a mass rally planned for after-hours. Labor unions, which constitute an important sector of the movement, worry that their involvement in work stoppages could be deemed as promotions of illegal strikes. Also, many activists are suspicious of the timing of this month’s Department of Homeland Security raids on IFCO company worksites across the United States, which came just days after the April 10 protests and resulted in the arrests of more than 1,100 undocumented workers. On the other hand, Los Angeles’ Continental Front is among movement groups that still endorse the tactic of staying home from work and school. Members of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and allied groups of Mexican immigrant clubs support a variety of May Day actions, depending on the individual possibilities and risks. Some employers have agreed to allow their employees a day off on May 1 but others have not.

KJ