We Join Fight Against Racial Profiling Law

1199ers joined labor activists and others at a March 22 demonstration in Washington, D.C. for immigration reform.

Even before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed immigration bill SB 1070 into law, 1199SEIU had joined millions across the country in the fight for progressive immigration reform.

But the passage of the apartheid-like law has energized members and millions across the country in opposition to it and has underscored the urgency for federal immigration legislation that provides a path to citizenship.

SB 1070 makes it a state crime for a non-citizen to be in Arizona without carrying registration documents, and it requires police to determine a person’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

Many conservatives have expressed support for the law and elected officials in many states across the country are discussing similar legislation in their states. Critics of the law, including the 1199SEIU leadership, say that the legislation is a license for racial profiling and harassment and that Latinos will become suspect in their own communities, regardless of their immigration status.

“I think it stinks,” says John Rusinko, a member of the 1199SEIU executive board and a maintenance worker at Catskill Regional Hospital in Callicoon, NY. “This type of law can easily be used to harass union members. To paraphrase the old saying, ‘when they came for them I didn’t say anything because I’m not Latino. In the end, when they came for me, there was nobody to help’.”

Even before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed immigration bill SB 1070 into law, 1199SEIU had joined millions across the country in the fight for progressive immigration reform.

In response, scores of organizations and leaders are calling for a boycott of Arizona and the scheduled 2011 Major League all-star baseball game unless the law is rescinded. Many cities, including several in Arizona, have joined the boycott call.

1199SEIU has long associated itself with the fight for immigration reform. On April 30, 1199ers demonstrated outside the offices of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Lower Manhattan. On March 22, ten busloads of members from the New York City metropolitan region, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C. joined at least 200,000 marchers from across the country in Washington to press for immigration legislation.

Among the 1199ers at the demon - stration was Polly Henry, a CNA at Cold Spring Hills Rehab, in Syosset, Long Island. Henry, who came to the U.S. in 1990 from Jamaica, became a citizen in 2009. Suffolk County, where she lives, has been the scene of a number of recent hate crimes and antiimmigrant activity.

“There is an atmosphere of so much fear. It’s mostly Hispanic people it’s directed at,” she says of Suffolk County. “It’s a shame. In this country, immigration is supposed to be a given. It’s what made this country. There are a few people who don’t seem to understand that and think they own this country. When I see what’s happening in Arizona, it breaks my heart.”

“When you are undocumented you are overwhelmed with fear sometimes,” she says. “There are just so many problems you face—simple things like going to the doctor or dentist, the financial stress. You can’t go home to see your family. People don’t understand our life in the shadows.”