Millions across the country are expected to protest in support
of immigrant rights today. UCLA students and staff plan to express
this sentiment with speeches, performances and city-wide marches
along with a projected 500,000 others.
Today, people around the world will commemorate the achievements
of labor movements in honor of International Workers’
Day.
Unions and nonprofit workers’ rights organizations
nationwide have called for protests against proposed immigration
legislation as well as an economic boycott against anything that
supports the U.S. economy.
The Los Angeles Police Department projects that two planned
marches will comprise the largest collective demonstrations in city
history.
Daniela Conde, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies and political
science student, expects a few hundred students at UCLA to not
attend class for the day, instead rallying on campus and joining
protestors across the city. Conde, who is also an intern with the
Multi-ethnic Immigrant Worker Organizing Network, plans to attend a
rally and a march near MacArthur
Park along with several other students.
“Not going to school means recognizing the privilege of
not being reprimanded for our absence. It is a privilege and
freedom that immigrant workers do not have the freedom to
do,” Conde said.
Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, said he expected
some UCLA employees to leave work and join the protests, but did
not estimate how many workers would participate.
Though there was “tremendous support overall” on
campus, some employees will only participate in the protests for
part of the day, Wong said.
UCLA administrators said they value student opinion and support
the free expression of political views.
“Naturally, UCLA would encourage students to attend
classes,” UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said.
UCLA administrators have also planned for the possibility that
employees will participate in the national boycott.
In anticipation, UCLA supervisors have told their employees that
if they call in sick they will be asked to produce a doctor’s
note, and also reminded them that employees who miss work will not
receive pay for hours not worked, Hampton said.
Meanwhile, UCLA students from different ethnic groups find the
immigrant issue hitting close to home.
“Being Japanese American, … I see the effects government
policy can have on one group of people. It makes me want to fight
for not only the Asian Pacific immigrant community but also the
Chicano and other minority populations,” said Jason Osajima,
a third-year international development studies student and
community relations coordinator for the Asian Pacific
Coalition.
“Monday represents an escalation of the campaign (against
restrictions on immigrants),” Wong said. According to Wong,
government decision-makers have taken nationwide protests like
these into consideration in their discussion of immigration
policy.
“The mass immigrant-rights protests have already altered
the debate,” he said. “As people have taken to the
streets, we have seen a response from those in
government.”
Wong said the Sensenbrenner bill currently moving through
Congress is one of the harshest bills punishing immigration. The
bill proposes stricter immigration regulations, with its primary
changes making it a felony to be an undocumented immigrant in the
U.S. and providing for the construction of a barrier on the
Mexican-U.S. border.
Over the past several days, business leaders have speculated the
boycott could have a large impact on the local economy, since
approximately 15 percent of the county’s labor force consists
of immigrant workers, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
But not all economics experts agree that the effect will be a
significant one.
Christopher Thornberg, senior economist with the UCLA Anderson
Forecast, said there will not be any significant economic
impacts.
“If you don’t buy food today, you buy it
tomorrow,” Thornberg said.
He compared events such as boycotts to natural events like
snowstorms that also impede people from working and buying
products.
“It is a political thing, not economic, and if they pull
it off it will make a big statement politically,” Thornberg
said.
Students from the UCLA School of Public Policy have planned a
debate in front of the Public Policy Building at noon. From there,
some students plan to attend a rally at the corner of Wilshire
Boulevard and Alvarado Street, scheduled to be held at 3 p.m.,
which will host several speakers, including Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa and an undocumented Iraqi war veteran, and feature
multicultural performances by Filipino and South Asian dancers. At
4 p.m., rally attendees will march to the corner of Wilshire
Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.