(The Associated Press distributed the following article on September 22.)
SEATTLE — Suely Ngouy came to the United States as a refugee from war-ravaged Cambodia 20 years ago. Her family struggled to adjust to a new home, a new language and endure unfair labor conditions.
With that history in mind, Ngouy will board a bus on Tuesday, joining some 900 others on a cross-country ride to raise awareness about undocumented immigrants and labor issues in the United States.
“I understand what it’s like to be an immigrant struggling with a new culture and new language and learning to assimilate. I want to support the immigrants who struggle, making it easier to live here,” said Ngouy, 22, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Taking a page from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride kicked off Saturday in 10 cities throughout the country, with 18 buses making planned stops in more than 100 communities.
Participants plan to hold rallies calling for improved workplace protections and recognition of immigrants’ civil rights, regardless of their legal status. Buses are leaving from Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Houston; Minneapolis; Chicago; Miami; and Boston.
Destinations include Washington, D.C., for meetings with members of Congress on Oct. 1, and New York, where organizers hope to draw 100,000 supporters to an Oct. 4 rally.
“We’re trying to bring attention to the whole struggle of having rights, justice on the job. People work hard, there should be justice for everyone,” said Bob Gorman, an AFL-CIO spokesman in Seattle.
At a kickoff rally in San Francisco on Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered to cheer about 100 freedom riders. Many in the crowd wore orange T-shirts with “Laborers” on the front, chanting “Si, se puede” — Yes, we can.
Freedom rider Maria Perla, an immigrant worker from El Salvador, said she hopes the event will lead to changes in U.S. immigration policies that will allow immigrants to stay connected to their families.
“I left my three young children 14 years ago to come to the United States so that I can provide for them,” Perla said. “I cry every week when I talk to them on the phone.
“I am going on the freedom ride because I want to be reunified with my children,” she said. “I am not prepared to wait another 14 years to be a family again.”
The idea for the symbolic ride was developed in July 2001 by leaders of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. After decades of considering new arrivals as adversaries, many unions now seek to organize even illegal immigrants, whose lower pay and lack of worker protections threaten to reduce standards across the board.
The Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research group in Washington, D.C., estimates the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States totals about 8.5 million, although the number is debated.
Ngouy recalls her father toiling for 11 years in a Los Angeles garment factory she described as a sweat shop, where the ventilation was poor, hours were long and the breaks were few. She sees the freedom ride as a way to help bring about changes for those who continue to struggle.
Even those who have entered the country legally should be protected by labor laws. “They’re not even treated as human beings, they’re treated as animals,” said Ngouy, who worked in the garment shop with her father at age 9.
The original Freedom Ride, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality, left Washington on May 4, 1961. Whites and blacks rode together through the South, protesting segregation on buses and trains. They faced angry mobs and mass arrests.
Today’s freedom riders — representing 17 countries and including several undocumented immigrants — say they’re anticipating more favorable receptions.
“There’s always fear when your raising up an issue that’s not on the agenda. But I think their desire for justice gives them courage to overcome the fear,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice in Chicago.
The cost of the drive is expected to exceed $1 million, with contributions from the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, United Farmworkers of America and the National Council of La Raza, along with several churches and foundations.