Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Rolls into Washington D.C. and New York

By Annie Nelson
Adelante Staff Writer

“Si se puede! Si se puede!,” rang out over the old site of the World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, New York in more than 26 languages. About 100,000 people rallied in Flushing Meadows Park on Oct. 4. for immigrant civil rights, holding a rainbow of flags over a crowd with faces to match.
The rally was the culminating event of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which embarked on a mobile protest two weeks prior to the rally. The freedom riders sought to express the immediate need for immigration law reform.
The IWFR identifies four major areas needing reform. They seek clearer legislation for legalization, protection of workers rights regardless of residency status, the right to unite families, and civil rights and liberties granted to all people living in the United States. The movement, made up of more than 900 undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants and supportive citizens, was a cross-country event.
The IWFR replicated the 1963 Freedom Ride that joined Martin Luther King Jr. in the march in Washington D.C., where he delivered his historical “I Have a Dream” speech. Eighteen Freedom Ride buses from nine U.S. cities traveled to Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2 to ask U.S. Congress members to recognize the existence of its pueblo escondido, or hidden people, of undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States. They asked senators and representatives to support legislation that provides civil rights for undocumented immigrants.
The buses made 93 stops on the way to Washington D.C., trying to raise awareness of their cause. Then they traveled northward and met together as a group, united for the first time, in New York City. The sheer size of the crowd brought home to the riders how many people were supporting them. It was an overwhelming feeling for people like Alfonso Rios, 25, of Joliet, Ill. He stood wide-eyed in the middle of the massive crowd and said, “I didn’t know how many of them there were until now. It’s amazing to see all these people here.”
John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, joined Congressman John D. Lewis, an original freedom rider from the ’60s in addressing the crowd. The freedom riders were also selected to speak of their personal experiences as immigrants and what it was like participating in the ride.
There were five representatives from Missouri, including Eduardo Crespi of Centro Latino in Columbia and Maria Lucrecia of Manos Unidos of St. Louis.
Angelina Dominguez from Overland, Mo., boarded the bus in San Francisco because of the death of her son Esteban Silva, 30, who died in June while in custody of immigration officials in Montgomery City, Mo. 900 people attended the rally.[see story on Adelanteonline.com]

Dominguez believes that her son’s rights were violated because he was an immigrant, and he died as a result of neglect. [see story on Adelanteonline.com]

The idea for the Freedom Ride was born at the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union convention in July of 2001, when President George Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox were discussing the prospect of legalization, and immigration reform seemed promising.
But then came Sept. 11, 2002, and attitudes toward immigrants changed drastically.
But planning for the IWFR continued, and organizers like spokesman David Koff successfully brought immigration issues back onto the national agenda in an unfriendly political climate.
Organizers hope that the event will give greater momentum to bills such as these, which recently were introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate:

• The Dream Act, which was introduced into both the Senate and House by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., would allow longtime undocumented resident students to obtain legal permanent residency status once graduated from high school. It would also provide legal residents the right to in-state tuition at colleges and universities.
  Fanny Diego, 17, a freedom rider from Chicago, is one of many high school students depending on the Dream Act to pass. She is a high school senior and has been denied legal residency her whole life despite her father being a U.S. citizen and her mother having legal residency. She is unable to attend college until she receives her residency.
  Diego came to the United States at the age of 5, and feels she should not be penalized when she made no choice in coming.
  “They don’t realize the effect they are having on student’s lives,” said Diego.
• The Agricultural Laborers Act is designed to replace other guest worker programs that, according to Koff, did not protect workers rights. It’s the most immigrant-friendly of a whole raft of guest-worker proposals that have been put forward, said Koff. In the past, guest worker programs failed to protect workers rights or give them legal status like the Bracero program of the ’40s and ’50s.”
  The Bracero program was established to encourage Mexican migrant farmers to come to the United States to fill the void caused by American men leaving to fight in WWII.
  The Agricultural Laborers Act would protect immigrant worker’s rights by applying current labor laws to undocumented workers, and give them the option to gain legal status.
  Pablo Padillo, 24, received his green card thanks to his grandfather who worked as a bracero, but feels legalization is much more difficult now. Like many families during the World War II era, his family used to move back and forth across the border on a regular basis.“Back then it was much easier to get documentation,” explained Padillo.
• The Family Unity Act, also introduced by Rep. Gutierrez, would allow petitioning by legal or citizen residents for family members to be given residency.
  Mariana Lesama, of Milwaukee, Wis., joined the Freedom Ride because her husband was deported in 2000. She is a citizen of the United States and now lives in Milwaukee with her two sons. Lesama feels any law that separates families is un-American. “This is unjust and unacceptable in a country where family is the No.1 priority,” she said.

The riders were selected because they were involved in immigrant organizations already working for civil rights, according to Koff. Twenty-seven different groups, including unions like HERE and the AFL-CIO and activist groups like the National Council of La Raza, sponsored the ride. The riders did not escape negative reaction. Counter-demonstrators gathered in clusters wherever they went, shouting anti-immigrant slogans and carrying signs with messages such as “Go back to Mexico.” And at a checkpoint east of El Paso, Texas, two buses were stopped by the Border Patrol on reports that the buses were filled with illegal immigrants. The IWFR had given out cards advising the riders legally on what rights they have. Koff said the riders held up the cards and sang songs from the civil rights movement of the ’60s and “they engaged in an act of non-violent resistance.”
No one was detained, and the buses continued on to San Antonio.
There was no visible counter-protest to the 100,000-person rally in Queens, a fact that Koff credits to the extensive security forces present, but he also thinks that “the strength on the ground of supremacist groups isn’t that great – they gang up on individuals but seem unable to mobilize when there are tens of thousands of people.”
Beti Guevara, an assistant pastor for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, an immigrant activist group from Chicago, thinks the next step in the movement for immigrant civil rights is a greater level of organization. She recommends undocumented residents educate registered friends to vote for sympathetic candidates, as well as calling their representatives. “People have to come together – we need unification,” Guevara stated.
Eduardo Crespi of Centro Latino underscored the IWFR goal of encouraging more legal residents to get their citizenship to solidify their political power in the United States. Crespi believes registering voters, collecting a list of Hispanic-Latino voters, and small rallies encouraging legal residents to apply for their citizenship are the next steps in the movement.
Koff focused on political action as the next step, as well. He predicted thousands of activists walking the precincts and staffing phone banks.” Although they may not be eligible to vote, they are responsible for getting others out to vote,” he said. “Certainly we would encourage anyone that can to get their citizenship, and those that are citizens to register.”
Many believe the implications of the IWFR movement stretch beyond immigrant rights. “It restores the integrity of American values and beliefs of justice,” Koff said. He pointed out that the Patriot Act violates citizen rights, but on a deeper level violates human rights. “It doesn’t matter if your ancestors go back to the Mayflower. A system of divided justice undermines everyone.”