Supporters Plan Rallies to Back Immigrant Rights
They Seek End to Check of Residency Status
April 15, 2007

By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer

Local immigrant and community groups are planning rallies in Detroit on May 1, the one-year anniversary of immigrant protests in Michigan and across the country. And some groups plan to ask the Detroit City Council to make the city a place of sanctuary where immigrants can't be questioned about their residency status.

Plans include a 10 a.m. rally at Patton Park in Detroit and a march to Clark Park on the city's southwest side, the site of a massive rally last year on May 1 that attracted thousands of immigrants and their supporters.

Members of a Detroit-based group, Latinos Unidos, said Friday that they plan to ask the City Council to make the city a sanctuary zone, where police and other city employees can't investigate the residency status of immigrants. Cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles have passed ordinances in recent years making their cities sanctuary zones.

"We don't want people to be harassed," said Elena Herrada, an activist with Latinos Unidos. "It's discrimination on the basis of national origin."

The plans come as the White House and Congress consider proposals to change immigration laws that would affect millions of undocumented immigrants. As many as 150,000 live in Michigan, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Planners say the Detroit rally will call for the legalization of undocumented workers and for their rights in the workplace. Activists have complained about raids in Detroit by federal agents at the homes and workplaces of Latino immigrants over the past year. But federal officials have said they merely are enforcing the law against people who have crossed the border illegally and are violating immigration rules.

A separate event is to be held May 1 at the International Institute of Detroit by a coalition of Muslim, Arab and Christian groups, including the Detroit-based Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength group, which plans to call for an end to profiling of immigrants and minorities.

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 248-351-2998 or nwarikoo@freepress.com