Boycott effort might be unstoppable

Public backlash, crackdown could make event backfire

Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 21, 2006 at midnight

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Like a train without brakes, plans for an immigrant work and school boycott on May 1 continue to build steam across the nation.

But such an effort in support of immigrant rights is becoming increasingly problematic because of a public backlash and a new crackdown on businesses that employ undocumented immigrants.

Some prominent pro-immigrant leaders and groups, including the Archdiocese of Denver, are urging immigrants to go to work and school on May 1.

They are offering alternative events, such as marches and educational forums on how to treat the country's estimated 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

Some of the pro-immigrant groups that were behind recent demonstrations at Civic Center and Sloan's Lake are organizing a march and rally that will mimic Wednesday's 2,500-student walkout .

At 9 a.m. on May 1, tens of thousands of people are expected to gather at Viking Park along Speer Boulevard and 29th Avenue and then march through the downtown business district to the state Capitol for a midday rally.

However, the Colorado Grassroots Movement for Immigrant Justice, a coalition of about 200 groups and individuals that was a key organizer of a March 25 Denver rally that drew 50,000, has decided not to participate in the May 1 events, said James Johnson, political director of SEIU Local 105, a member of the coalition.

The group decided instead to focus on the campaign to fight a proposed state ballot initiative that would deny certain government services to undocumented immigrants.

But some coalition members, such as the American Friends Service Committee, are helping to organize the May 1 march and rally, which was planned to coincide with May Day, the international workers holiday.

Coalition members have said the current pro-immigrant frenzy has been so spontaneous that they cannot control what people do, even if they tried.

"It's not really being organized by the organizers," said Jamila Spencer of the Colorado Catholic Conference.

Concerns about negative public sentiment have prompted calls to oppose a walkout and caused some pro-immigrant organizations to distance themselves from more radical activist groups, including those associated with communist and socialist agendas. The groups have inserted themselves into the movement and are pushing aggressively for the work boycott.

Moves by radical groups to take control of the pro-immigrant movement is "happening in very subtle ways," said Jose Quinonez, Web site coordinator for a Web-based Latino activist group called BlueLatinos.org, which purports to have more than 10,000 members, including about 1,000 in Colorado.

"They saw millions of people marching, and they wanted to lead them," said Quinonez, whose group supports the campaign to defeat a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would build a wall across the Mexican border and turn illegal immigrants into felons.

Quinonez doesn't support the work boycott because "it undercuts our message why we need to be part of society."

Union leaders say they cannot endorse the work boycott because of contractual obligations.

SEIU Local 105, which represents janitors and health care employees, is working with employers to allow members to participate in the May 1 events, said spokeswoman Michelle Dally.

Members met last week and decided that "the strongest message could be delivered through the march and rally and not through the boycott," she said.

Plans to ditch work could change now that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced a new enforcement effort.

In a statement released Thursday with news of the arrests of almost 1,200 workers and managers of a national pallet company with offices in Commerce City, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced he plans to "come down as hard as possible" on employers who harbor and hire illegal immigrants.

A group representing families of Sept. 11 victims also have announced plans to protest amnesty for illegal immigrants. They plan to protest across from the White House on Monday.

Staten Island, N.Y., resident Bruce DeCell, representing a group called "9/11 Families for a Secure America," said the protest was planned in response to the recent pro-immigrant rallies.

"If somebody is in the country illegally, they shouldn't be demanding any rights from the host country for any reason," he said.

Political experts say the marches and rallies do not promote efforts to push lawmakers to pass legislation friendlier to illegal immigrants.

"What these marches succeeded in doing is inflaming and further polarizing an already-hot issue," said local political analyst Eric Sondermann.

Ken Sanchez, a carpenters' union representative from Arvada who will support the May 1 events, said he's not concerned about the backlash. He said it's necessary.

"We need Americans to react and respond so that our legislators in Washington will get this thing done," Sanchez said. "Let the other side of the fence push back. It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. This is America."

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361

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