Boston actions support immigrant rights

On July 10 around 600 demonstrators took to the streets of Boston to send a message to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and governors from around the country at the National Governors Association meeting here: Racist, anti-immigrant laws and their promoters are not welcome in Massachusetts.

Action hits racist Arizona law. WW photo: Steve Kirschbaum

The protest was initiated and endorsed by dozens of immigrant rights and social justice organizations, including the Student Immigrant Movement; the Boston May Day Committee; the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition; Deported Diaspora; the Rev. Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC; the Coalition for Equal Quality Education; the Bail Out the People Movement; the International Action Center; the Women’s Fightback Network; the Answer Coalition; and many others.

The rally at Copley Square featured dozens of speakers, including representatives of the Student Immigrant Movement and MIRA. The demonstrators marched through a torrential downpour to make their voices heard at the Sheraton Boston, where the governors’ conference was being held.

A July 15 Workers World forum titled “What’s next for the immigrant rights movement?” was well attended. José Palma of the Student Immigrant Movement described his personal experiences as an immigrant from El Salvador and the exciting 19-day, 24/7 vigil conducted by students in front of the Massachusetts State House to defeat anti-immigrant amendments to the budget law that had passed the state Senate.

Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, spoke of his personal experiences as an immigrant from Angola and about the struggle for immigrant rights and against racial profiling.

Workers World Party leader Teresa Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the May 1 Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights in New York City, reviewed the emerging period of struggle and resistance for the immigrant rights movement.

Gutierrez saluted the immigrant students who are putting their lives on the line and risking deportation to fight for the DREAM [Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors] Act. She explained how this struggle must be supported, while at the same time pointing out the limitations of the law and opposing the provisions requiring military service for those who cannot spend two years in college, as a condition for legalization.

Gutierrez also pointed out the need to oppose “comprehensive immigration reform” like the plan by New York Sen. Charles Schumer, supported by President Barack Obama, which emphasizes the militarization of the border and characterizes immigration as a “security issue.” Gutierrez said it is not a security issue, but a labor issue.