[migrawatch-public] [Fwd: [watsonvillebrownberets] MigraWatch group immigrant rights march set for May 1]

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Subject:	[watsonvillebrownberets] MigraWatch group immigrant rights march set for May 1
Date:	Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:02:52 -0700
From:	Luis Angel Alejo <laalejo@msn.com>
To:	undisclosed-recipients:;

The Register-Pajaronian, April 19, 2007

 

MigraWatch group immigrant rights march set for May 1

Posted: Thursday, Apr 19th, 2007
BY: AMANDA SCHOENBERG

At last year’s May 1 protest, about 10,000 people walked through Watsonville and Pajaro to join a national “Day without an Immigrant” mass boycott and rally.

This year, immigrant rights group MigraWatch Network plans a May 1 march starting at 5 p.m. at the Watsonville Plaza, this time focusing on quelling fear in the wake of immigration raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in September.

Part of the national “Return to Sender” campaign that began last year, officials detained 107 people during raids in Watsonville, Hollister and Santa Cruz. Similar raids detained 18,000 people nationwide, 888 of whom were deported.

According to MigraWatch member Ramiro Medrano, the idea for the march emerged during a March 30 forum on immigration. At the forum, which brought about 250 people together to discuss the raids, participants voted to ask the city for permits for the event.

“We want to show the community that although we are scared, we’re not too scared to go out and protest against the raids,” Medrano said. “We’re still here.”

Although rallies and student walkouts at the end of March last year focused on immigration reform, with many participants hoisting signs in opposition to immigration bill HR 4437, this time around the message will be different, Medrano said.

“Right now, what we’re fighting for is an end to the raids,” Medrano said. “I am fighting for total legalization of all people, for people to leave this backwards concept of ‘illegal’ people.”

“We’re basically in the stance that Republicans and Democrats aren’t doing anything and we need to move within ourselves,” said fellow MigraWatch member Evelyn Sanchez, a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

With anxieties high and without the push from Spanish-language radio stations that helped spur last year’s boycott, Medrano said he expects fewer people will attend the march this year. Sanchez said the march was planned for 5 p.m. to encourage more workers and families to attend.

Watsonville Mayor Manuel Bersámin said last year’s marches put the immigration issue front and center — and he is hoping it will stay there.

“Watsonville is heavily dependent on immigrant labor,” he said. “I know that all the farmers, cannery owners and packing shed owners want to see our labor force become much more stable.”

“It’s very good for this topic to still be at the forefront and if the marches do that, then it’s actually a good thing,” he added.

Watsonville High School Principal Murry Schekman said he had not heard about the possibility of student walkouts scheduled for May 1, although Watsonville resident Dan Hernandez said rumors were circulating. He added that several parents had recently entered a meeting of the group Parents United to ask if it was a meeting about walkouts.

Last year, hundreds of students walked out of Watsonville, Pajaro Valley and Aptos high schools for several days in late March to protest HR 4437, on one occasion spilling out into traffic on Highway 1 near PV High.

Schekman said his main concern is that students do not miss their Standardized Testing and Report tests, scheduled for six days including May 1. The state test assesses student skills in math, language arts, social studies and science each year.

He added that he would encourage students to make their voices heard at school by holding teach-ins in the gymnasium or extending class times for discussion.

“What I’ve done in the past is to try and show them that I love democracy,” he said. “Sometimes students aren’t taken seriously when they walk out.”