Florida immigrant workers strike and rally

ILUF is organizing a rally entitled "Work Stoppage Demonstration for a Fair and Equitable Immigration law Day" this upcoming February 22nd.

The rallying point will be Senator Bill Nelson's office in Fort Myers. "Work Stoppage Demonstration for a Fair and Equitable Immigration law Day"

Start: 2006-02-22 10:00
End: 2006-02-22 12:00
Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

Florida

ILUF is organizing a rally entitled "Work Stoppage Demonstration for a Fair and Equitable Immigration law Day" this upcoming February 22nd.

The rallying point will be Senator Bill Nelson's office in Fort Myers.

The Florida United Latinos Organization of Arcadia will hold a rally this upcoming Wednesday, February 22, 2006, near Senator Bill Nelson's office in Fort Myers located on Justice Ave Justice Center Annex Building 2000 Main Street, Suite 801, Fort Myers, Florida 33901.

The reason for this rally is to counteract for one day of Work Stoppage for a Fair and equitable Immigration law day against the Sensenbrenner immigration proposal, which would criminalize routine contact with undocumented aliens in this country as well as organizations that are perceived to give them support or refuge. In other words, ILUF is going to demonstrate to elected legislators and to the community in general what could be the result of this legislative proposal which manifests a rejection of our hard-working people in this country. For this reason, on that day immigrants who support the organization will not be present in their usual places of work that cause them to add to the progress of this country's economy. However they will be present to make their voices of protest heard in front of Senator Bill Nelson's office in Fort Myers. Senator Nelson has not yet taken a public stance with respect to immigration and this offensive legislation.

The Florida United Latinos Organization will rally agricultural workers and immigrants from De Soto, Manatee, Sarasota, Pinellas, and Hardee counties and will enjoy the support of other representative organizations of this state and this country which will engage in similar protests around the country examples of which are -Mexicans who have begun protesting at international bridges, demonstrations and two-hour work stoppages in New York, as well as the campaign to refrain from the consumption of alcohol for the entire month of February organized by the Azteca Center. ILUF, hand in hand with other organizations on a statewide and national basis are in agreement that drastic measures must be taken in a unified show of force for this one reason. The legal situation of our people will not change unless we do something. It is important to make known to all of our employers, pastors, priests, organizations and the public in general how this legislation would affect them. Now is the time to emphatically say "Enough!"

The rally will start at 10am in the area around the offices of Senator Nelson. We will later walk through the principal streets in order to demonstrate with our children, families, and authorities that we support our undocumented friends and that they are not terrorists. The only way to truly protect this country is to give an identity, in other words legal status to our people who on a daily bring food to our table and to stop thinking that when they cross the border or overstay their visa, they cease to be human. Our people are tired of being arrested time and again for not having a driver's license and paying fines and we're tired of being abused by some bad elements in law enforcement who take advantage of our undocumented status to physically abuse us. We're tired of being fired by some employers after we get injured because we're no longer useful and we then are prevented from reporting these abuses because we're undocumented. We're tired of not being covered by worker's compensation when we get hurt on the job because we don't have a good social security number but they nevertheless withhold these contributions from our pay. We are sick of being characterized as terrorists when all that we are doing is working to advance this country. As immigrants, we are not the first or the last people who came to this great country. "Being part of this country with our own identity will bring security and discernment as to who is and who is not a criminal."

United in the struggle for a secure United States!!!

We're counting on your support on Wednesday, February 22nd.

For more information about this event contact:
Immigrant Latin United of Florida
Office (863) 491-0044
Fax (813) 434-2196
Location

Senator Bill Nelson's office in Fort Myers
2000 Main Street, Suite 801
Fort Myers, FL, 33901
United States