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Starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday
Farm workers march in Arvin against immigration raids, for earned
legalization |
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Central Valley farm workers and community
supporters march Friday in Arvin to protest stepped up immigration
raids and intimidation and build support for the landmark AgJobs bill
allowing undocumented field laborers to earn permanent legal status.
The Arvin event comes as the United Farm Workers is also organizing
similar farm worker marches this week in the Salinas Valley and Ventura
County.
Recent raids and intimidation by U.S. immigration authorities heighten
the need for this landmark legislation, march organizers say. UFW
offices across California have received numerous calls from farm workers
and other Latinos afraid to leave their homes or take children to
school. According to reports, people are often being questioned and
arrested because of their skin color.
The bipartisan AgJobs bill now before Congress-S. 1645 and H.R. 3142,
by U.S. Sens. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.),
and U.S. Reps. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.)-would
allow undocumented farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently
stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture. Also strongly
backed by the agricultural industry, AgJobs has the support of 63
co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate, including many Republicans.
AgJobs has been endorsed by hundreds of organizations representing
a broad cross-section of employer associations, religious organizations,
immigrant advocates, civil rights groups and unions from across the
nation. The editorial boards of the Wall St. Journal, Los Angeles
Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, Salinas
Californian, La Opinion, Miami Herald, New York Times and other newspapers
around the U.S. have editorialized for the measure.
Who: Central Valley farm workers and community supporters.
What: United Farm Workers-organized march against intimidation
by U.S. immigration authorities and for the historic AgJobs reform
bill now before Congress.
When: 5:30 p.m., Friday, July 2, 2004.
Where: Begins at DiGiorgio Park on Haven Ave. and Meyer St.
in Arvin.
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