Immigrants rally in Rainier Valley to back residency, legalization

Immigrants rally in Rainier Valley to back residency, legalization

Thursday, September 6, 2001

By MARNI LEFF
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Dozens of immigrant workers rallied yesterday at the Filipino Community Center in Rainier Valley to support legal and permanent residency status for immigrant workers and for a belated Labor Day celebration.

The workers, from Mexico, India, Iran, China and other countries, shared stories about their own experiences and raised several concerns that they said were crucial for President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox to address in their discussions during Fox's U.S. visit.


	Mexico native Baldemero Baldobinos listens yesterday at the Filipino Community Center as other workers describe their struggles. Joshua Trujillo / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo

"Immigrants work hard and pay taxes, and have contributed to the very foundation of this country," said Nieves Negrete, executive director for the Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee Justice, which helped organize the event. "The immigrants who contribute to today's economy should have their work rewarded with the opportunity for legal residency."

Across the country, union leaders and immigrant workers are using Fox's visit as an opportunity to talk about harsh labor conditions and the exploitation of illegal immigrants by employers.

"We're a nation of immigrants, yet we daily visit injustice upon new arrivals to our shores -- a cruel irony not lost on those of us who share experiences as children of immigrants," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, whose parents came to the United States from Ireland.

Agnes Wong, a Hong Kong native who works in a garment factory in New York, said foreign workers have no recourse for the poor treatment they receive at her job.

"A lot of immigrant workers are working without papers, and they are working like slaves," she said. "In the garment factories, if we complain, the bosses say, 'Take it or leave it.'"

Bush is weighing task force recommendations to grant guest-worker status and, eventually, legal residency to some of the 3 million Mexicans now in this country illegally. Bush has said he also would consider extending the proposal to people from other countries. About 7 million illegal aliens live in the United States.

Administration officials have not talked about timetables for a plan. Fox opened his visit challenging Bush to work out an agreement before the end of year.

Sweeney said organized labor opposes temporary-worker programs, including such a plan by a labor ally, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

At the Seattle rally yesterday afternoon, workers and labor leaders also spoke out against temporary-worker programs.

Negrete called for "unconditional amnesty" for all immigrant workers in the United States and the reunification of separated families.

After the rally, as workers and union leaders began filing out of the community center auditorium, Blanca Macias, a 25-year-old field worker who came to the United States from Mexico seven years ago, summed up the workers' frustrations.

"We work here, we live here, we pay taxes," she said. "It doesn't matter where we came from."

P-I reporter Marni Leff can be reached at 206-448-8142 or marnileff@seattlepi.com This report includes information from The Associated Press.

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