March and Protest AGAINST HR 4437 Anti-Immigration Bill
Event Description:
[Updates by Bill Crosier, from information posted on Houston Indymedia, the HPJC calendar, and other sources]
The March for Immigrants' Rights
In Houston, marchers will assemble at Guadalupe Plaza, located at Navigation and Jensen (in front of Talento Bilingue de Houston) at 1:30 PM. The march will go into downtown Houston and end at Allen's Landing on Buffalo Bayou by UH-Downtown. People are encouraged to get there early as parking may be really difficult. If this march ends up becoming larger than the Walk for a DREAM that took place on March 25th, it may very well be the largest march in Houston's history.
Local community, labor, religious, and immigrant leaders will join the national call to action on pending immigration legislation. The event organizers also urge everyone to contact their two U.S. Senators. Urge them to support a pathway to legalized status for our 11 million hardworking undocumented immigrants; and to say NO to the punitive House bill (Sensenbrenner's HR 4437) that passed and similar proposals now before the Senate.
For more information, contact Maria Jimenez at dignidad{at}hotmail.com.
- 1:00 PM Gathering at Guadalupe Plaza
- 1:30 PM Begin April 10th Coalition March
- 2:00-3:00 PM Arrive at Allen’s landing
- 3:00-5:00 PM Rally and Speeches from the April 10th Coalition.
Background
Immigration is looking like it will be one of the hottest issues in this election year. The neo-con strategists have been looking for a scapegoat to blame for all the country's problems, especially those caused by the neglect, incompetence, and downright illegal actions of the Bush/Cheney administration. It looks like they've decided that immigrants (especially those from Mexico, Central and South America) are a good group to blame -- they don't have political or financial clout, they don't vote, and it's easy to whip up ethnic intolerance and hatred towards them with lies on the right wing talk shows. It's remarkably like what the Nazis were doing in Germany before WWII.
This is a very important time for progressives to stand in solidarity with our fellow citizens of the earth, who come to this country to make a better life for their families, just as the ancestors of the Anglos in the US have done over the past few centuries.
H.R. 4437 (the Sensenbrenner bill) is one of the most discriminatory bills to pass the US House of Representatives in some time. Among other things, it would make unlawful presence in the US a felony and make criminals out of countless Americans who have contact with undocumented immigrants. The Senate seems unlikely to pass it as is, but their alternatives have major problems, too.
H.R. 4437 would criminalize all undocumented immigrants in the United States and all those that provide support to them including social workers, teachers, priests, and labor unions. Simultaneous marches will be held in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Cruces, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Tucson, and Washington, D.C. Event organizers expect 10,000 people to 25,000 people here in Houston.
April 10th: National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice
[from Migra Matters] On April 10, 2006, immigrants and their allies from around the nation will mobilize in Washington, DC and multiple other cities to oppose the harsh and unworkable HR 4437. They will be demanding real immigration reform that is comprehensive, respects civil rights, reunites families, protects workers, and offers a path to citizenship for the current undocumented and future immigrants to the US.
Event Sponsor:
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and other community and labor groups
Event Contact Name:
Angela Mejia
Event Phone Contact Information:
832-524-6158
Event Email Address:
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