Thousands rally and march to demand full legalization and declare "round two" in response to a new wave of Sensenbrenner-backed attacks.
Today, the New York metropolitan-area immigrants rights movement presented its platform of demands to the nation from Union Square, and declared Round Two of its response to lawmakers failure to propose and pass a full, fair, and humane legalization bill. Marching to Times Square, more than two thousand protesters declared, No Deal! No Half-Steps, No Half-Measures! Full Legalization Now! and demanded an immediate end to detentions and deportations.
Earlier this week, New York United for Immigrant Rights (NYUIR)a coalition of more than 75 immigrant and human rights organizations in the New York metro areacalled on all communities to denounce the new wave of Sensenbrenner-backed attacks on immigrants. In September, the House passed a series of enforcement-only bills that authorized the construction of a redoubtable $6 billion border fence, and proposed to misuse state and local police to enforce civil immigration laws and shield the government from accountability for misdeeds or misapplication of immigration law, among other measures.
Local residents from Latino, Asian, Caribbean, African, Arab, labor, religious, civil rights, and human rights communities marched to Times Square, carrying a Border Wall of Remembrance and Resistance to commemorate the people who are suffering under current immigration laws, and a series of funeral coffins...