(The Buffalo News published the following story by Fred O. Williams on its website on September 30.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Maria Rojas worked in a lawn equipment factory in Chicago for six years before she was fired in May, when it was discovered that she had used a false Social Security number.
An animated woman with streaks of gray in her black hair, Rojas spoke through an interpreter about how she came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1990, without working papers. She came because her husband’s death left her no income, other than the pittance she could make selling fruit from a cart.
Rojas was one of 50 immigrant workers and their supporters who visited Buffalo on Monday as part of an AFL-CIO campaign to reform U.S. immigration laws. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride brought three buses to Buffalo as part of a 1,000-person convoy that is to meet in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The stop in Buffalo, sponsored by a coalition of labor and church groups, drew about 150 people to the Buffalo Convention Center for a forum about immigration. After hearing stories of immigrant workers, the crowd marched to a rally outside the Adam’s Mark Hotel, which is embroiled in a labor dispute with area unions.
Backers of the freedom ride are calling for legal resident status and workplace rights for people like Rojas, along with a path toward citizenship.
“These are people who are working, they’re paying taxes,” said Joe Alvarez, Northeast region director of the AFL-CIO.
Although Rojas’ Social Security number was false, the taxes were deducted from her paychecks, she said, as were income taxes.
An estimated 8 million people live in the U.S. without citizenship or legal working status, the focus of contention between immigration advocates and opponents. Opening the door further to immigration would crowd citizens, and legal residents, out of scarce jobs, opponents say.
Alvarez said the nationwide bus convoy, modeled on freedom rides of the civil rights movement, is a first step in restarting a push for immigration reform, which has been stalled since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. There are no legislative proposals he knows of addressing the group’s policy goal of citizenship for working immigrants, he said.
Wearing T-shirts picturing the statue of liberty, immigrants participating in the freedom ride told how their precarious existance in the U.S. has become shakier since 9/11. A woman who arrived from Bolivia as an infant said she faces deportation that would separate her from her three U.S.-born children.
“I have worked a lot of jobs here and not because I have paper – because I am intelligent and know how to work,” she said.
A Mexican woman who worked at an airport was caught up in an FBI sweep looking for potential terrorists, and also faces deportation.
“I am not a terrorist . . . I’m a single mother,” she said.
Daniel Boody, president of the Western New York Area Labor Federation, said immigration reform would help working people in the Buffalo region. Companies that exploit illegal immigrants, who accept substandard wages for fear of being deported, are undercutting responsible employers, he said.
“It lowers the standards for workers and working conditions,” Boody said.
Raul, who would only be identified by his first name, said he is taking part in the freedom ride to push for fair wages. He made $4.25 an hour as a forklift driver in a Chicago factory, until he was fired for lying about his resident status.
Boody, who gave welcome remarks to the immigrant workers, this summer called for criminal penalties on contractors who used illegal immigrants on construction projects.
He said it’s not a contradiction to support immigration reform while exposing crews of illegal workers. He said punishment should fall on the employer, not the workers.
However, “the employer always seems to be able to walk away – the workers get slapped with deportation,” Boody said.
Mark Kirsch, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 17, said employers who use illegal workers enjoy a loophole in labor laws. In labor board cases, employers have avoided paying back wages to workers who lacked legal working status.
“What does that tell employers – that doesn’t punish them, it rewards them,” he said.