By Ethen Lieser
They work the lines as meatpackers, fruit-pickers and construction workers — blue-collar jobs most well-fed Americans don’t want. But the question is: How can they work here, pay taxes, contribute to the economy, and not have the right to become an American citizen?
On Aug. 21, around 50 people gathered in front of the United Nations Plaza in San Francisco, trying to answer that question. Sponsored by the Local 2 Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (HREU), the rally was held to ignite changes in U.S. immigration law that would allow legalization for millions of undocumented workers — in support of the House measure called the U.S. Employee, Family Unity and Legalization Act.
More importantly, the law would also allow many families to unite after being separated for as many as 20 years.
“A lot of our members have family members in different countries, and it is very important for them to be united,” said Valerie Lapin of HREU, an organization that represents nearly 10,000 workers, who are mostly immigrants, in hotels and restaurants of San Francisco.
Many of the participants in the rally held large, yellow signs, some reading: “We want legalization not exploitation” and “Organized labor starts with civil rights.” A banner flew in the background of the speaking podium — “Here for Justice.”
Speakers from Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) to Southeast Asian Community Center (SACC) to the immigrant communities themselves expressed passion on the issue. The most vocal of the group, Phillip Nguyen, the executive director of the SACC, went up to the stage and said: “We are here for justice — why else would we be here?” He then pounded his fist on the podium, knocking off several microphones from television stations.
“It is incredibly unfair for these immigrants to not have their American citizenships, because they have contributed and worked hard for this country,” Nguyen said. “If they come here and work here, they must become citizens.”
With America’s struggling economy and increasing numbers of immigrants coming into the United States every year, debate over who should be allowed legal status has become heated. Recently, President George W. Bush raised the prospect of granting legal status to 3 million Mexicans, which angered many Democrats because they believe immigrants of other nationalities should be given the same opportunity. Some suggest Bush is merely trying to buy Latino votes.
In a nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted by the Terrance Group and Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates, 40 percent favored a bill that would legalize undocumented workers, while 49 percent opposed.
Currently, there are 30 million immigrants in the United States, compared to just 19.8 million in 1990, and about 8.5 million are considered illegal. The United States brings in 300,000 illegal immigrants annually, in an effort to close the gap in worker shortages. The U.S. Bureau of Labor projected that United States will have a shortage of 10 million workers by 2006.
According to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, though immigrants make up 13 percent of the nation’s workforce, the highest since the 1930s, immigrants hold 35 percent of unskilled jobs. Thirty-four percent of all household workers are immigrants, including 23 percent in farming and fishing, and 21 percent in assembly and machine operation. The highly-skilled technological sector in Silicon Valley has also been hit with this influx. During the dot-com boom, as much as a third of the workers were from Asia.
According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Mexicans make up the most immigrants in the United States at 7.8 million, followed by Chinese/Taiwanese at at 1.4 million, and Filipinos at 1.2 million.
“People think these immigrants will take away jobs from American citizens, but that is not true,” Nguyen said. “In the past, it has been proved immigrants have been taking jobs that people that have lived here for a long time wouldn’t want to do. They bring immigrants here to work these jobs, then we deny their benefits to become legal.
“They just want to take and don’t want to give. And that is a total violation of justice in this country.”
The rally concluded with a march toward the Philip Burton Federal Building, as the people chanted: “What do we want? Justice!”
The demonstration was one in a series of events that will lead up to the “Immigration Rights Freedom Ride,” scheduled for spring of 2002, where labor unions, immigrants and civil rights organizations will go on a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C.
Reach Ethen Lieser at elieser@asianweek.com.
|
