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LA May Day rallies expand demands to immigration reform
May 1, 9:32 PM

May Day celebrations in downtown Los Angeles filled the streets with workers claiming labor rights and demanding House passage of immigration reform. The spark on the debate was reignited after president Barack Obama informed on Wednesday, he will push for immigration reform this year.

Men, women and children shouted “workers first,” wore T-shirts that read “Legalize LA,” and carried signs of “Ye We Can”. The H1N1 virus fear didn’t stop them from dancing at the rhythm of the drums and salsa music played along the march.

Several thousand workers participated in the LA rallies to protest current lay-offs, demand a stop to work-site and residential raids, end the separation of families through deportations and open the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Roy Samaan, Immigrant from Arabia at the USCIS building in LA. (Aurelia Fierros)Roy Samaan, immigrant from Arabia said "we all need to be treated as humans and as equals," while Juan Carlos from Tijuana, Mexico added “I am here because I want and I need citizenship.”

At least six different marches made their way through downtown LA, all calling for changes in federal immigration policy, and gathering in front of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services building. The coalition of participating organizations was integrated by the Full Rights for Immigrant Workers, Immigrant Rights/Legalize LA, International Workers Day March to MacArthur Park, March for Immigrants, May First Annual Boycott March, and May First Day of Action in Support of Workers Rights.

“We’re celebrating May 1st sending a message to president Obama with very particular demands for the government to stop raids, deportations and the separation of the workers’ families,” said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association (MAPA) and organizer of the event.

Lopez added that Obama “talks and says, but we don’t really know when he is planning to do something on immigration reform.”

Also part of these marches were the Multi-ethnic Immigrant Worker Organizing Network (MIWON), the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of L.A. (CHIRLA), Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), and Pilipino Workers Center (PWC). Labor Day marches in LA occurred without incidents.

Los Angeles May Day rallies made headlines in 2007, when approximately 600 LAPD officers fired foam-rubber projectiles to protesters gathered at MacArthur Park, injuring 27 marchers and 7 members of the media. Lawsuits were filed based on allegations that police officers gave the command to disperse in English to a crowd of mostly Spanish speaking demonstrators and followed by use of violence. Local news coverage said protesters were demonstrating peacefully, and left when the order was given. Video footage shows police striking with their batons at protesters as they were running away.

To read this story at its original site, please click here: Examiner