May Day: Marchers rally for immigration reform

Waving American flags and pictures of President Obama, thousands of protesters took to the streets today to promote immigration reform in several rallies in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Marchers said they were encouraged by Obama’s support for immigration reform and his commitment to start the process this year. Advocates are pushing for an end to work-site raids and a path to legalization for the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Turnout was light at most of the protests, but the mood was jovial during the first L.A. march, which kicked off about 1 p.m. downtown with Aztec dancers performing and participants wearing T-shirts that said “Legalize America Now” and waving signs reading “Obama, Escucha (Listen)” and included a long wish list for immigration reforms.

Humberto Gomez, 60, an organizer with the laborers union who was among the marchers who gathered at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Broadway, said with so many people out of work, there is now more urgency for legislative reforms.

“We are trying to give time to the president, he said, but we are here to remind him not to forget he made a promise.”

Ricarda Garcia, 36, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, says she’s confident Obama will push for legalization. “We have a lot of hope,” said Garcia, a housecleaner from San Fernando who regularly attends the annual May Day marches. “I feel more necessity now. ... It’s much more difficult for us. There aren’t jobs.”

Hector Gonzalez, 24, a mechanical engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona, said he hoped that that the proposed Dream Act would be among the first legislative reforms approved by Congress.

The legislation would allow students who illegally entered the U.S. when they were 15 or younger to apply for conditional legal-resident status if they have lived in the country for five or more years and graduated from high school or received a GED. If they attended college or served in the military for two or more years, they could be granted citizenship.

With legal status, Gonzalez said it would be easier to get internships and jobs so that he can contribute to the ailing economy. “People like me are here to help Obama,” he said. “I just need a little step forward.”

Walking in front of the crowd, LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said this year is different from previous years because there are so many different marches. "It would be a little bit different if we were dealing with one group, but we can do this," Diaz said.

He said the department learned lessons from two years ago, after a melee in MacArthur Park, and is determined to have a smooth May Day. The city recently agreed to pay more than $30 million to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct in the disturbance.

"We don't want a repeat of 2007," Diaz said. "We don't want to be the story. And they don't want us to be the story. They have a message to get out."

Protesters blamed the economic recession for the low turnout, saying many workers are reluctant to take time off. Several participants also said they worried that the economy could derail plans for legislation.

Even with the light turnout, the marches are expected to snarl downtown traffic for hours, particularly when the demonstrations converge near City Hall in the late afternoon. Several streets including 11th, Ord, Grand and Alameda will be closed. City officials are recommending that commuters take public transportation. For more street closure information, go to http://trafficinfo.lacity.org/html/2009.

Los Angeles police have set up a command post to monitor the various marches and, like last year, have spent months preparing for the event. The department drew fierce criticism after the 2007 rally in MacArthur Park turned violent when police officers used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse what was a predominantly peaceful gathering. Dozens of people, including a number of journalists and police officers, were injured.

In Artesia, a small but spirited group of mostly South Asians marched down Pioneer Boulevard in Little India, chanting and waving signs in English, Bengali and Hindi urging worker justice.

Marching past sari boutiques, sweet shops and eyebrow threading salons, several of the immigrant workers said their biggest May Day concerns were labor exploitation, racial profiling and what they described as civil rights violations tied to the fight against terrorism.

Sultan Ahmed, a 48-year-old mortgage broker who took to the streets in business attire, said he was marching to bring attention to the problems experienced by Pakistanis and Muslim immigrants like himself.

He said they are disproportionately pulled over for airport security checks and unduly delayed for citizenship application approvals. A few months ago, he complained, U.S. customs agents would not allow his friend to bring in a small bottle of holy water from the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

 "America is a great country, but we should get equal opportunities," said Ahmed, who legally emigrated here in 1988 to join his wife, a U.S. citizen.

Uma Tharpa, a 36-year-old Nepal native and beauty salon worker, said widespread labor exploitation of South Asian workers is her greatest concern. In restaurants, grocery store, beauty salons and other businesses, workers are routinely denied the minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation and other standard labor protections, she said.

Many work six or seven hours a day at wages that amount to as low as $2 an hour and are fired if they complain, said Tharpa, who volunteers on workers rights issues for the South Asian Network, which sponsored the march.

The South Asian marchers were joined by members of Khmer Girls in Action, a Long Beach-based group that serves Cambodian youth. Suely Ngouy, executive director, said she hoped the marches would help cast light on her little-noticed community.

Their relatively small numbers result in fewer resources, she said, such as Cambodian-language assistance or mental health services that specifically help people cope with the still-lasting effects of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

Aiming to make business allies, the boisterous marchers distributed fliers about May Day to shopkeepers along Pioneer Boulevard.

At Kirun Jewelers, Ali Bashir, a 28-year-old Pakistan native and community health advocate, seemed to succeed. As he handed out a flier and turned to leave, the owner smiled and called out, "Labor Day is in September, but go ahead, I am with you."

In Orange County, a group of about a dozen U.S. flag-waving demonstrators protested outside the Mexican Consulate in Santa Ana, criticizing the Mexican government for failing to redress poverty, corruption and violence and other problems that have led to illegal immigration to the United States.

The raucous gathering drew just as many immigrant-rights protesters, who dressed in white shirts and clashed with the other demonstrators in shouting matches, walking in circles and chanting “We love America” and “U-S-A!”

Raymond Herrera, of Laguna Hills, an activist with the Minuteman Project, was stopped at the door when he tried to enter the consulate to deliver a letter to Consul Carlos Rodriguez Y Quezada. The letter faulted the Mexican government for failing to control illegal immigration, thousands of drug-related killings, corruption, even the spread of H1N1 Influenza, or swine flu.

Security guards posted inside the consulate wore gauze masks. “You’re Guatemalan. You can’t come in,” Betty Torres, a consulate worker, said in Spanish. “This is Mexico.”

“Until Mexico takes care of its people, we’ll continue to have these issues,” said Robin Hvidston, a Minuteman Project demonstrator and Upland estate manager who said the terrible economy only made that more clear.

It is unfair, she said, that U.S. citizens should have to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce jobs during a recession.

“Teens who want to get jobs in fast food can’t because Spanish-speaking adults who are in this country unlawfully take them,” she said, clad in a U.S. Flag windbreaker.

“In this economic crisis, it’s particularly devastating to the American worker.” As the group of immigrant-rights demonstrators chanted “Jesus was an immigrant,” Hvidston shot back: “Jesus loves the laws.”

A larger rally of pro-immigration reform groups was planned for later in the day in the Civic Center’s Plaza of the Flags.

--Anna Gorman, Teresa Watanabe and Tony Barboza

Comments

[Lee Danner]

United by Love-Divided by Law
The Uniting American Families Act
Because Americans should not be forced to choose between their homeland and their families.

[Roman A]

Illegal imigration to this country must Stop now. All people who wish to live in this country should do so legaly. All others should be deported back to their family, where they came from.

[Carol M]

I am a US citizen but I have lived and worked abroad and I have always had to do so legally. Other countries do not tolerate illegal immigration or workers without working visas. The U.S. shouldn't either. It is unfair that our government is not protecting us - we pay taxes so that our government will protect us but they are not. Our jobs are going to illegals. It is not fair and it is not legal. The government needs to do something about it. There should not be amnesty. If you break the law, you should not be rewarded for it. If family's are broken by their deportation, it is regrettable, but it was caused by the illegal actions of the immigrants - not the U.S. government or her citizens. Law-abiding citizens should not have to bear their burden of those who break the law.

[Maria]

Funny how hundreds of illegal marchers get coverage by the media...yet thousands of tea bag protesters didn't get a mention...are we living in the same country? Then they ask why people are not buying newspapers - it's called media bias...

[Minuteman Project]

Carona has a lot of criminal friends, like his pal Jim Gilchrist. Gilchrist gave 12 pages of space in his book to Convicted Felon Michael Carona. Then Gilchrist claims he did not know Carona, then Gilchrist shows up at Carona’s trial and publicly says Convicted Felon Ex-Sheriff should walk free from his crimes. Well from the following OC Register artical we know Gilchrist has committed perjury himself, among other more serious State and Federal Crimes.

Jim Gilchrist sues illegal immigrant activists again The Minuteman Project founder said he wants to make a group of former fellow activists “as miserable as possible.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gilchrist-project-courtney-2377719-stewart-minuteman

BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist has filed another lawsuit against fellow activists, about two years after he dropped the first saying he wanted to refocus on immigration enforcement.

“We dropped it and thought they would just go on their way and they didn’t,” said Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo. “They pulled the shenanigans of suing me under my own corporate name.”
Gilchrist’s suit, filed in March under Minuteman Project Inc., names several former fellow activists, Barbara Coe, founder of California Coalition for Immigration Reform, Marvin Stewart, and Paul Sielski.

Anti-illegal immigrant activist Deborah Courtney is for now excluded from the suit because she has filed for bankruptcy, but could later be included if a bankruptcy court permits her to be named as a defendant, court documents state.

The suit alleges that the group stole a donor database, about 20,000 of the organization’s letterhead with Gilchrist’s signature, and funds from corporate bank accounts, among other accusations.

Coe wouldn’t comment for this story. Sielski, Stewart and Courtney, who have accused Gilchrist of embezzlement and fraud, said the suit is meant to be a smoke screen to confuse the public.

The lawsuit is just the latest maneuver in a string of back-and-forth suits that started in early 2007 between two groups that were once united and among the most vocal and powerful voices against illegal immigration. The infighting has left the Minuteman Project fractured, with both sides claiming they run the organization.

The trouble began in late 2006 when some group officials expressed concerns over fundraising and suspected irregular bookkeeping. Stewart and Courtney said Gilchrist couldn’t address the suspected discrepancies so they and others voted him off the board of directors.

The major source of contention stems from whether Courtney, Coe, Stewart and others were executive board members as they’ve claimed or advisory members without the power to oust Gilchrist, as he contends. That’s why Gilchrist claims that he is the rightful owner of the Minuteman Project and not them.

“They knew that all the time and they decided they would be governing board members and stole the bank accounts,” Gilchrist said.

Courtney, Stewart, and Sielski contend they are the true Minuteman Project and that Stewart is the current president of the organization.

Courtney provided the Register with documents of registration of charitable organizations for the Minuteman Project Inc. in several states — such as Oregon, Alabama and Michigan — listing her as a “Secretary-Board Member.”

“He has sworn under penalty of perjury that I am a member of the board of directors,” Courtney said about Gilchrist. “He was legally terminated. He should never have been allowed to file these lawsuits under the Minuteman Project.”

Courtney claims that Gilchrist has been embezzling money from the organization, spending donors’ money to file lawsuits against the group.

She claims Gilchrist dropped his first lawsuit against the group because he knew he was going to lose.

Stewart said he laments what’s happened, stating that all he wanted was an audit of the Minuteman Project and transparency from Gilchrist.

“We never wanted it to get to this point right here,” Stewart said. “It has truly been a black eye to those involved in the movement.”

Contact the writer: ccarcamo@ocregister.com or 949-553-2906

[GF Tosser]

The audacity is unbelievable. You're going to cross into this country illegally and then demand to have rights and to stop raids at work? Where are my rights as a U.S. citizen? Why do yours matter more than mine? Get in line people. I did and you're no exception.

[JAR]

I am 100% for LEGAL immigration. I fail to see why so many believe that those who illegally enter this country should be provided a path to citizenship. As to the comments about not being forced to choose between family and country- you made the choice to enter illegally, no one did it to you.
Another point- the southern border of Mexico is closed to illegal immigrants. What is so evil about closing the southern border of the US? We are separate countries in spite of what so many seem to think these days.

[G. rodriguez]

I think the INS and Board Patrol shold have been there and arrested all the Illegal Aliens who showed there Faces there.

[elleneyegreen]

Immigrant rights? WHAT? If they're here illegaly, how in the world can they possibly have any rights? They certainly have the right to break the law, thieve, promote gang violence and crime, and spread their Swine Flu as they so happily go about their illicit activities, protected by our laws and our taxpayers' money.
I have also worked abroad, with all my papers in order. Mexican immigration law is very strict. Let's adopt Mexican immigration law which gives NO government benefits whatsoever to any legal or naturalized citizen. A naturalized citizen does not even have the right to vote nor engage in political activity in Mexico. Let's use their own laws and see how many come over when they get no free government handouts and can no longer steal our identities - since they're all working in all the DMVs and county registrar offices where all of our personal information is at their fingertips. Utterly repugnant.

[Warren]

I wish ICE and Homeland Security would do their job and throw a net on these people. Every illegal should be deported as soon as possible.

[MaryJ]

Security guards posted inside the consulate wore gauze masks. “You’re Guatemalan. You can’t come in,” Betty Torres, a consulate worker, said in Spanish. “This is Mexico.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny how these grotesque Mexican hypocrites so jealously guard their borders, while screaming "racist" at Americans who want to do the same with ours. And the LA Times seems to be completely unaware of the supreme irony of this section of their report. Truly hilarious.

[Ryan]

May Day is a joke. You do not have rights until you are a citizen. PERIOD.

[Louweegie272]

I have tried to work in Canada, Europe and Australia and been denied in every case. The option to try and work there illegally never even occurred to me, I try & follow the rules.

[GimmeABreak]

Our immigration laws don't need reform. We just don't enforce them, and so these criminals feel emboldened enough to demand that we change them so that they're no longer criminals. And our Mayor and City Council cheer them on.

If they feel so downtrodden in this country, they should stop coming here. This country is becoming a third-world joke, and nobody wants to say anything for fear of being labeled a racist. Pathetic.

[KimNorth]

You know the thing I keep hearing and reading these criminals say, "We need Obama to make us legal there is no jobs, WHAT! So you can go from illegal to legal to make it easier for them to suck more Social services and have us pay for it! Hello there are no job's GO HOME to you own country, you are stealing jobs from legal immigrants who worked hard, learned english, and came here the LEGAL WAY!

[Veru simple]

Wow. Sin verguenza. How do you say "sense of entitlement" in Spanish?

[Amy]

Migration is a complex issue that requires all of us to understand our current US laws and policies to understand why:
1) we must stop assuming there is a line or legal way for people to enter the US if you do not have a citizen relative, a sponsoring employer, or an advanced/specialized skill or degree.
2) fatal poverty exists in other countries around the globe because of the consumerism and government policies in the US.
We have to step away from protecting what we believe is ours as Americans, broaden our thinking and understand how all humans can thrive wherever they live. If food, shelter and fair work with fair wages are available in every country then there is less need to migrate out of despair. Ask yourself wouldn't you prefer to live with your family, with your customs instead of leaving everyone and everything you know and love. What must it take to go to a new country with the risk of death and daily victimization just to live and feed your family? What can we do to make sure our way of living and our trade policies are not creating the reason people need to migrate here?

[Brittanicus]

Knowing that Amnesty will be passed, no mater what the consequences under a Democratic-Socialist majority? Those 20.000 in town protesting equals another 200.000, because once legalized there want to bring in their Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, Nieces. All those they can sponsor, by signing an affidavit that they will not become a financial burden on the population. However our government does not enforce this law and then the Taxpayer ends up paying for their upkeep. Their handicapped and infirm can apply for SSI, SDI without ever paying into the system. These people know the the welfare government benefits, better than the majority of Americans. THIS IS CALLED CHAIN MIGRATION! Sick old folks end up on dialysis machines, that cost around 100.000 dollars a year and their sponsor pays nothing! Nor does the parasite business that hires cheap labor. But it is riddled with loopholes, so new arrivals and their U.S.-born children (anchor Babies--intentional misinterpretation of emancipation for African Slaves after the Civil War) often become lifelong public burdens. A blockbuster example is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Economics writer Ed Rubenstein’s new report, “The Earned Income Tax Credit and Illegal Immigration: A Study in Fraud, Abuse, and Liberal Activism,” The author says immigrants collected about $12 billion from the EITC last year, the majority not paying a cent towards it. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation found high school-dropouts-who headed households pay an average of $9,700 a year in taxes but collect an average of $32,138 a year in benefits. All this money in real dollars is procured from unaware taxpayers. THIS IS CALLED CHAIN MIGRATION. Surf NUMBERSUSA for the truth not the propaganda you expect for the open border zealots.

[Delaware Bob]

Just who are these protesters that want immigration reform? What kind of reform do the want? WOULD IT BE AMNESTY? Are they crazy? You can't give 12-20 million ILLEGAL ALIENS amnesty.

I can't say the ILLEGAL ALIENS are completely to blame for the shape of our economy, but they are a BIG part of the problem. The ILLEGAL ALIENS send BILLIONS upon BILLIONS out of this Country every year, money we will NEVER see again. Does this help our economy?

How about the BILLIONS the American taxpayers fork out for the ILLEGAL ALIEN BABIES, the schooling of them, the medical care and the list goes on, and on, and on.

How about the MILLIONS upon MILLIONS paid to jail ILLEGAL ALIENS for the crimes, then the cost to deport them. Does this help our economy?

Then you have these activist groups, the Catholic Church and the ACLU that want AMNESTY for these ILLEGAL ALIENS. It would be absolute suicide for this Country if AMNESTY were granted to the 12-20 million or so ILLEGAL ALIENS. We have more and more people out of work everyday and they want to add another 20 million to this Country? I say, "NO"!

If AMNESTY were ever granted to these 20 million ILLEGAL ALIENS, you can bet big money that 3 years from now, there would be ANOTHER 3-5 million ILLEGAL ALIENS demonstrating on our soil for AMNESTY.

An end MUST come to this illegal immigration. The perfect tool we have so far is E-Verify. It MUST be used by ALL businesses and Government Social Services. EVERY employee must be checked! If they are illegal, they are to be dismissed!

I believe it is time for all 50 States to pass a State law, like Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and a few others. It is time for these ILLEGAL ALIENS to go back to their home Country and get out of this Country. The problems they are causing will not go away until the ILLEGAL ALIENS are out of this Country.

It's time for ZERO TOLERENCE with these ILLEGAL ALIENS! Is California ready for a State Illegal Immigration Law. yet? You have what, 3 million ILLEGAL ALIENS, and it's costing you $19 BILLION a year to keep them there? WAKE UP! Get a State law passed. Get rid of the ILLEGAL ALIENS and you get rid of all the problems that go with them. THAT IS A FACT!

[CHRIS]

ALL OF YOU WHO ARE ALL FOR LEGALITY AND CRIMINALIZATION OF IMMIGRANTS SHOULD LOOK BACK AND SEE HOW YOU AND YOUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS GAINED CITIZENSHIP... BY MURDERING AND KILLING MILLIONS OF NATIVE AMERICANS... LOOK BACK AT THAT... NOW YOU FEEL PROUD???

BY THE WAY, WHAT ABOUT PROSECUTING BUSH AND CHENEY.. THEY ARE THE REAL CRIMINALS!!!

AND ALSO,

IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT ABLE TO OBTAIN SOCIAL BENEFITS "AT ALL!!!!" SO GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND GET LITERATE!!!

YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT THE LAW AND YOU NOT EVEN KNOW YOUR OWN CONSTITUTION... AND DO NOT FOLLOW OR PURSUE THE REAL MEANING OF SUCH. THANK GOD FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA!

THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN THE TRUE FACTOR FOR IMMIGRATION... THIS IS MEXICAN LAND AND WILL ALWAYS BE...

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE REINVESTMENT AND RECOVERY PLAN AND GO BACK TO SCHOOL...

FULL LEGALIZATION FOR ALL IMMIGRANTS NOW!!!

WWW.IMMIGRATIONCOALITION.ORG

[CHRIS]

who cares about tea baggers??? complaining on an increase of 3% in taxes??? LOL!!!

Immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes which are never claimed!!!

that is what's paying for your old folks' social security!!!

get educated... you .. so called... "legal" hahahahah aLOL!!!

[Marcos El Malo]

What's really terrible is how Latinized Los Angeles has become. If one didn't know any better, they might think that Los Angeles had a long tradition of Latino residents, and wasn't always a city of whites.