Los Angeles: Join us at the May 1st Coalition Press Conference in Support of Elvira Arellano and Victor Toro

Los Angeles: Join us at the May 1st Coalition Press Conference
in Support of Elvira Arellano and Victor Toro

COMMUNITY, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, WOMEN’S GROUPS AND OTHERS TO CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ELVIRA ARELLANO & REUNIFICATION WITH HER SON, SAULITO

ACTIVISTS TO ANNOUNCE PLANS TO MAKE SEPTEMBER 12
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS DAY

MAY 1ST ACTIVISTS ALSO TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR VICTOR TORO
AND DEMAND NO DEPORTATION

WHEN:    Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 11 a.m.

WHERE:    26 Federal Plaza (see map with directions below)

INVITED SPEAKERS:    Victor Toro, Chilean activist who has received deportation orders, Walter Sinche & Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1st Coalition; Brenda Stokely of the Katrina Survivors Coalition; Representative of the Women’s Fight-back Network & Movimiento de Justicia, Larry Holmes of Troops Out Now; Nieves Ayres of La Peña del Bronx, labor leaders, and others

The August 19 deportation of Elvira Arellano is another blow against immigrants emanating from the White House.

Elvira’s deportation is an example of the unjust, cruel and brutal immigration policy of this country.

In recent days, the Bush administration and the Department of Homeland Security have announced plans on immigration policy that aim to drive immigrants further and further underground. Their aim is not to deport the 14 million undocumented in this country but to force this reserve army of labor into a more manageable and super exploitable pool of workers.

For decades, employers have benefited from immigrant labor and have made millions of dollars in profits. Without the labor of immigrants, the economy would come to a standstill. The “no-match” Social Security policy announced a few days ago is meant to force lay-offs for a source of labor that is not as needed this moment.

Furthermore, the no-match policy and the growing raids in workplaces throughout the country are also an attack on U.S. workers. When a UFCW union organizer was arrested at a meatpacking factory in Iowa for allegedly “harboring illegal aliens” this was meant to put a chill on union organizing efforts.

This attack drives down wages on all workers, U.S. and foreign born. The raids are meant to tell all workers in this country that they had better not fight back or organize for healthcare, job security and so on.

Elvira’s decision to come out of sanctuary in a church in Chicago and go on a national speaking tour to speak against these policies is but one of many examples that immigrants and their activists will not be intimidated.

At Tuesday’s press conferences, May 1st activists will announce plans to make September 12 Immigrant Rights Day as they travel to both Washington DC and Buffalo, New York to defend Elvira Arellano and Victor Toro, respectively