Si, se puede! - Chicago Witnesses Massive Protest for Immigrant Rights

Belated news of a large march by immigrant workers in Chicago, this passed me by and I haven't heard many people talking about this, but it is interesting news if this is the sign of the beginning of large-scale mobilisation by immigrant workers in the US. Reposted from www.indymedia.org 

Si, se puede! - Chicago Witnesses Massive Protest for Immigrant Rights

On Friday, March 10, 2006 Chicago's downtown was paralyzed by an immigrant rights march estimated at more than 100,000 people. The march, organized by a citywide coalition of community, labor and immigrant rights groups, was called to protest the punitive enforcement provisions of the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner Bill.

Protesters carried hand-lettered signs saying "No Human Being is Illegal", "We are America," "My Mexican immigrant son died in Iraq," "Don't deport my parents,""I'm a dishwasher - not a criminal," and "Si, se puede!" - "Yes We Can!" The crowd stretched two and half miles, from Union Park on the West Side to their rally destination in Federal Plaza.

The march was one of the largest street protests Chicago has ever seen - exceeding the historic May 1, 1886 march down Michigan Ave. by 80,000 largely immigrant workers demanding an eight-hour workday. Read more | Democracy Now! coverage

Indymedia reports: [ 1 [http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/70983/index.php] | 2 [http://www.fightbacknews.org/2006/01/chistrike.htm] | 3 ] Photos: [ 1 | 2 ]

Other resources: Pueblo Sin Fronteras | Centro Romero | Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

On Tuesday Feb 14th immigrants across Philadelphia and regionally staged a walkout to protest bill HR 4437 as part of A Day Without An Immigrant. The bill threatens to criminalize those assisting undocumented immigrants as "alien smugglers" and to turn undocumented status from a civil violation to a federal aggravated felony.o

For more information on pending immigration legislation, see The National Immigration Law Forum | American Immgration Lawyers Association | American Immigration Law Foundation | National Immigration Project |Immigrant Legal Resource Center

For information on border activism in general, see deletetheborder.org| No Border Network | O.R.G.A.N.I.C. Collective | No More Deaths | Immigrant Solidarity Network