On March 25, 2006 hundreds of thousands of immigrant rights supporters marched in downtown Los Angeles. This rally was one of the largest in area history and coincided with similar large demonstrations in Washington D.C., Dallas, Chicago and other cities across the country.

The purpose of these marches was to bring attention to current immigration policies, laws and practices which have resulted in the detention and trivialization of tens of thousands of people at significant cost to taxpayers. In fact, more than $30 billion in government funding has been expended in the past 12 years and even this sizeable outlay has not measurably deterred unauthorized border crossings.

The main catalyst for the organization of these demonstrations was the passage of HR 4437 (“Entrepreneur Bill”) which was approved on December 16, 2005 in the House of Representatives and the proposed SB 2611 (“Sector’s Mark”) (which was passed by the Senate on April 25, 2006). These pieces of legislation intend, in part, to further militarize the border, to provide funding for the construction of a border fence in many areas that do not currently have a fence or wall, create a Guest Worker Program, increase the number of border patrol agents, and expand the use of ICE raids around the country in order to detain undocumented workers. The rallies on March 25 were organized in opposition to this legislation and designed to show disapproval and discontent with these policies.

Currently, there are approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. According to recent studies, these individuals pay over $60 billion annually in taxes and contribute approximately another $60 billion to the Social Security fund each year. In addition, these workers serve the economy by taking jobs that are low-skilled and low-paid but which produce much of the nation’s goods and services particularly in the agricultural and textile sectors.

The benefits of immigrants and immigrant labor to the U.S. economy are enormous according to the marchers. Therefore fair and just immigration legislation and policies must be put into place immediately in order to prevent continued mistreatment and abuse of persons attempting to improve their economic and political conditions by immigrating to the U.S.

Sources
Institute of Popular Education of Southern California.
IDEPSCA’s Legalization Proposal, Spring 2006; Southern Poverty Law Center.
Intelligence Report, Issue 120, Winter 2005.