Protest Outside SF Federal Building On National 'Day Without Immigrants'
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- There was a call for immigrant workers to take the day off Monday, in the Bay Area and across the country. Organizers of, "A Day Without Immigrants" want to illustrate the value of the work immigrants do in society and keep pressure on the president and Congress to pass immigration reform.
Immigrant workers gathered at San Francisco's Federal Building instead of their workplaces. They wanted their absence to be felt.
"A day when immigrant communities don't go to work, don't go to school and don't buy anything is a way to exert our political muscle and convey to the President, to our California Senators, that they need to keep their promise of passing immigration reform this year," said Renee Saucedo from the Graton Day Labor Center.
They protestors say it's been more than three decades since there was immigration reform. And despite President Biden's promise to do it within his first 100 days, the issue is still tied up in the Senate. Meanwhile, the threat of arrest and deportation hangs over them all.
"They told us we're going to have immigration reform within 100 days. We know politicians say things, but we're here to keep them accountable," said Luis Bravo, president of Sonoma County's "Comite VIDA."
They are the people most people never see. They help grow the food, cook it, and clean up after everyone's gone. And many do it for minimum wage in a place where that can't begin to pay for a place of their own.
"Hopefully, people that are paying attention see that the person that's doing the toilet, the person that's opening up the restaurant, the person at the supermarket, they ARE critical, right?" said Bravo.
Ironically, the pandemic has redefined what it means to be "essential" and most of the people at the protest fall in that category. Which also means they worked when others stayed home. A young woman named Leydi works at a health clinic in Sonoma County , but she joined the protest in honor of her father, a construction worker in San Francisco.
"My dad's work will never be noticed. You'll just drive by a building and no one will ever recognize the people who built that building," she said. "And it's upsetting and it's sad, but at the end of the day, my dad is proud of his job and proud of what he does. So, it's important for me to at least give him this."
At a time when so many Americans are filled with anger about their treatment in this country, it seems strange that those who would gladly be a part of it are treated as if THEY are the threat.
San Francisco's "Day Without Immigrants" was one of several planned throughout the country, including protests in Chicago and Washington D.C.
