Los Angeles, CA – Over 2000 Mexican and Central American workers marched here, July 29, to demand legalization and an end to the mass firings of immigrants. The mass firings have been brought on by the Department of Homeland Security’s push – backed up by the threat of sanctions on the employer – to identify undocumented workers by auditing companies’ employee data.

Around the country, organizers and leaders of the immigrant rights movement are discussing and making plans for another round of May 1 protests. Last year millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets on International Workers Day. This powerful upsurge, which extended for many months, defeated legislation that would have further criminalized undocumented workers in the United States.

Los Angeles, CA – Chanting, “What do we want? Legalization! When do we want it? Now!” a group of over 200 University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) students and community members gathered outside of a campus lecture hall where Carl Braun, executive director of the California Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was scheduled to speak, Feb. 6.

St. Paul, MN – Over 1,000 people marched on the West Side of Saint Paul on Labor Day to demand legalization for immigrant workers and workers' rights for all. The West Side is one of the main centers of Latino immigrants and Chicanos in the Twin Cities.

_ Labor Day Marches and Sept. 30 National Day of Action Planned_

Hillside, IL – Over 750 immigrant rights activists met here on August 11-13 at a historic national convention. This was the largest and most important meeting of the new immigrant rights movement to date. The attendees were largely Mexican-American, with Central and South Americans and other nationalities too. The convention brought together leaders of the wave of “mega-marches” from all over the country. Those marches brought millions of immigrant workers into the streets to defeat the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437) and to demand legalization and full equality for undocumented immigrants. According to Los Angeles-based immigrant rights and trade union activist Carlos Montes, “The energy, unity and diversity of the convention was motivating and a call to action for immigrant rights.”

Chicago, IL – Organizations and activists from across the United States will be coming together here, Aug. 11-13 to lay plans that will build the immigrants’ rights movement. The National Immigrant Rights Strategy Convention was initiated by the Illinois-based March 10 Movement, the organization that led the massive general strike of immigrants here March 10, and then brought more than a half million people onto streets on May 1.

Chicago, IL – Emma Lozano's voice was cracking as she spoke to the thousands of marchers for immigrant rights in Grant Park, July 19. “I'm here to ring the bell for an immediate moratorium on deportations and the raids and sanctions on employers.” The founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras had just helped to lead over 20,000 on a three and a half mile march in 90-degree heat. The event was a continuation of the mobilizations for immigrant rights begun this spring by Chicago's March 10th Movement.

Saint Paul, MN – Over 200 immigrants’ rights supporters drove out a dozen anti-immigrant ‘Minutemen’ as they tried to rally at the Minnesota state capitol building on the Fourth of July. According to Erika Zurawski, an organizer of the pro-immigrants’ rights rally, “The racist Minutemen tried to show their faces here, and we outnumbered them twenty to one. They left after a half hour without even being able to hold a rally or press conference at the capitol, as they had planned. We were chanting ‘Minutemen go home!’ and they did! Everyone at our rally was so inspired when they decided to just drive away.”

Immigration promises to be a major issue for the rest of the congressional session and into the November elections.

Greensboro, NC – People from across North Carolina rallied here, May 10, to oppose the anti-immigrant Minutemen. The Minutemen are a racist militia organization devoted to armed patrols of the U.S-Mexico border, with the intent to ‘stop’ anyone crossing the border ‘illegally.’ They are touring the country to rally support for the anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437) and are adamantly advocating a militarized wall on the southern border of the U.S.

Chicago, IL – Among the 700,000 people who took to the streets here for the May Day immigrants’ rights protest were anti-gentrification activists from the city’s South Side. Members of the Student/Tenant Organizing Project (STOP) carried signs saying, “Black and brown united!”

A May Day speech by Christina Chavez

Editors note: the following is the text of a speech prepared by Christina Chavez for International Workers Day in Chicago.

May 1 marks International Workers Day around the globe. Here in the U.S., immigrants’ rights coalitions called for a National Day Without An Immigrant, advocating no work, no school and no buying to show the impact that the immigrant community has. Millions of undocumented workers and their supporters took to the streets.

May 1, 2006 was an historic day, as millions of people, mainly Mexicanos (immigrants from Mexico), Chicanos and Central Americans, poured into the streets of United States to support the struggle for immigrant rights. Many have called this upsurge in protests a ‘new civil rights movement.’ We think that this is a very good description of the broad united front of labor, religious, community and youth organizations and the grassroots participation. Most importantly, this fight for equality and self-determination in fact represents a challenge to the monopoly capitalists that rule this country.

Chicago, IL – In the final two weeks of April, suburban Chicago janitors made history, setting an example for low-wage “illegal” workers everywhere.

When the forces of reaction and racism decided to push their vicious anti-immigrant agenda, they lifted a rock, only to drop it on their own feet. Across the country, one of the most powerful waves of demonstrations in U.S. history is now unfolding. In Chicago on March 10 it became apparent something really big was in the offing; a sea change was under way. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Latinos, along with other immigrants and their supporters, filled the streets. A general strike shut down hundreds of factories and businesses. This was followed by major demonstrations; some accompanied by work stoppages – that rocked Denver, Colorado; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Georgia and Phoenix, Arizona. Then on March 25, one million people took to the streets of Los Angeles.