Minneapolis, MN – On March 2, Mario Colloly Torres was fired from his retail cleaning job at Cub Foods. Torres is a leader in the campaign for justice for retail cleaning workers. The campaign is organized by the Center for Workers United in Struggle or Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL) in Spanish. CTUL is organizing low paid, mostly immigrant workers at major retail stores such as Cub, Lunds & Byerly's, Target, and Supervalu to fight for better wages, working conditions, and the right to organize.
Raleigh, NC – Over 80 people gathered here, Feb. 1, outside the North Carolina General Assembly to voice strong opposition to HB11. Undocumented students are already faced with the burden of paying out-of-state tuition. This bill, proposed by Rep. George Cleveland, would go further in barring undocumented students from having access to any community colleges and universities in the state. Because of North Carolina's new Republican-majority legislature, the bill is likely to pass.
Salt Lake City, UT – The United for Social Justice Coalition rallied at the State Capitol building here, on the evening of Jan. 24. Immigrant rights activists are fighting back against proposed bills that will further criminalize undocumented immigrants. 250 people braved the cold weather to show their support for the undocumented immigrants on the first day of the Utah legislative session. The crowd chanted slogans such as, “No human is illegal!” “Fund education not deportation!” and “They say ICE attack, we say fight back!”
Minneapolis, MN – On Jan. 20, dozens of Latino immigrants who were among the hundreds fired from Chipotle Mexican Grill throughout Minnesota last month protested at a downtown Minneapolis Chipotle. At the protest the workers entered the store, while eight of the workers’ allies chained themselves together inside the store until they were arrested. The workers and their supporters are demanding justice from Chipotle.
Constitution’s 14th Amendment made Black people citizens after U.S. Civil War
Washington, D.C. – At a press conference January 5 at the National Press Club, the most extreme anti-immigrant politicians from around the U.S. gathered to announce their plan to attack the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Their press conference was confronted by immigrant rights activists.
Minneapolis, MN – On Dec. 19 activists from the No More Deportations campaign brought their message to the New York Plaza shopping center on Lake Street in Minneapolis. In the Latino market, activists explained the campaign to weekend shoppers and signed up dozens of people on the petition to stop deportations in Hennepin County.
Minneapolis, MN – On Dec. 14, Juan and Maria, two workers from Chipotle Mexican Restaurant who are Mexican immigrants, spoke out at a press conference after being fired as part of a statewide immigration sweep. Over 20 other fired Chipotle workers stood by them as they told what has happened over the past week and presented their demands to Chipotle Mexican Restaurant and to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Minneapolis, MN – On Dec. 10, seven students here started a hunger strike to demand that Congress pass the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is a proposed law that would give some undocumented immigrant youth the possibility to gain legalization if they go to college or join the military.
Los Angeles, CA – Hundreds of angry protesters confronted the Ramparts Los Angeles police, driving a large sound truck into the station entrance as marchers moved to the front of the building chanting, “Assassins, assassins.”
Los Angeles, CA – People in Los Angeles will be marching Sept. 18 to demand justice for Manuel Jamines, the Guatemalan immigrant who was gunned down by L.A. police Sept. 5. The cop who killed Manuel Jamines has a reputation for brutality and a wave of anger has swept the Latino community. Protesters will gather at 10:00 a.m. 6th Street and Union on Sept. 18. The Southern California Immigration Coalition is organizing the rally and march.
Minneapolis, MN – As the candidates for governor were preparing to debate inside the Pantages Theater here Sept. 15, about 30 members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, including folks from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee and the Welfare Rights Committee were on the street out front.
Los Angeles, CA – The Guatemalan community, especially the indigenous Mayan sector, has been protesting and angry over the brutal killing of their community member Manuel Jamines. Jamines was shot in the head and body on a busy street in the late afternoon in the Pico Union, a Central American community, by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on Sept. 5.
Greensboro, NC – Fifty people marched through downtown Greensboro on Aug. 27, past the offices of the Internal Revenue Service, to protest the federal policy of ‘tax and deport.’
Chicago, IL – En Chicago, julio 19 la voz de Emma Lozano se quebrantaba cuando hablaba a miles de marchantes para los derechos de los inmigrantes en Grant Park. “Estoy aquí para tocar la campana para un moratorio inmediato a las deportaciones y a las autorizaciones de las redadas en empleadores.” El fundador de Pueblo Sin Fronteras terminaba de ayudar a conducir en una marcha de tres millas y media a más de 20,000 personas en una temperatura de 90 grados de calor. El evento era una continuación de movilizaciones para los derechos de los inmigrantes que comenzó esta primavera por el movimiento de Chicago en marzo 10.
Los Angeles, CA – The August 29th Chicano Moratorium Organizing Committee held a press conference here Aug. 25 to announce a protest march and rally set for Aug. 28 in East Los Angeles. The march commemorates 40 years since the Chicano Moratorium.
Major League Baseball’s place in the history of the battle for equality and civil rights is an embarrassment. Black ballplayers were banned from the major leagues for over 75 years until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Nothing can make that right, but people of conscience are demanding that Major League Baseball (MLB) move the 2011 All-Star Game from its currently scheduled site in Arizona to “Anywhere else!” in protest of the recent passage of the racist anti-immigrant SB1070.
This essay was written by one of five people arrested at the Move the Game protest in Minneapolis on August 11, 2010. The protest confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) team owners and league Commissioner Bud Selig, demanding that they move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the anti-immigrant law SB1070 is repealed. The essay focuses on part of the arrestees’ jail experience, bringing to light this largely hidden site of large numbers of immigrant deportations.
Immigrant rights protesters demand MLB move the All-Star game out of Arizona
Minneapolis, MN – Chanting “Move the game! Move the game!”, 100 immigrants and supporters confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig and team owners at a ritzy Minneapolis hotel on August 11, 2010. The protest was part of the national movement demanding that Major League Baseball move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the state repeals its recently passed anti-immigrant law, SB1070. Losing the All Star game would be a big blow to Arizona, resulting in an estimated $60 million loss of revenue. Thirty percent of MLB players are Latino, and many have spoken out against SB1070.
Minneapolis, MN – The outpouring of online anger at Target turned to the streets on Aug. 5, as more than 50 people protested outside of Target’s store on Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in the heart of Minneapolis’s Latino community. Target is under fire for contributing $150,000 to MN Forward for television ads in support of Minnesota Republican governor candidate Tom Emmer, a man infamous for his extreme anti-immigrant, anti-gay and anti-minimum wage views.
In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark that American-born Chinese were U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
![Protesters unfurl banner and confront anti-immigrant press conference.](https://i.snap.as/7Bv2cYeO.jpg "Protesters unfurl banner and confront anti-immigrant press conference. One protester \(left\) being removed for confronting the anti-immigrant press conference at the National Press Club, as other protesters unfurl banner reading \\"Protect the 14th Amendment\\". \(Fight Back! News\)")
