News go to General News | Legislative News

IWFR News

Next 20

Last 20

• Immigrants Lost in the Din: Security vs. the Dream
  9/20/2004. New York Times
  Passers-by glanced curiously at the few dozen young people rallying on the sidewalk outside the Interfaith Center of New York on Thursday, immigrant students wearing bright orange stickers saying "Ask Me Why I'm Fasting." But no one stopped to ask, and as student speakers addressed a handful of reporters, their words were often muffled by the roar of midday traffic in Midtown.



• Uniting African-Americans and Immigrants
  9/11/2004. Resource Center of the Americas
  If you listen to President George Bush, the only way Mexicans can avoid the deadly and illegal trip across the US border is to come as guest workers - temporary contract laborers for US industry and agriculture. The 8-14 million immigrants already living in the US without visas, he says, must become guest workers themselves if they want to get legal documents.



• 11 honored for Latino work
  2/22/2004. The Statesman Journal
  Mexican native Oscar Morales left his homeland three years ago to find a better life in Oregon...He has also become one of several vocal leaders within the Latino community dedicated to demanding immigrant rights, social justice and standing up for Latinos who are less fortunate.



• Laboring for Justice in 2004
  1/19/2004. In These Times
  The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR) last fall indicates that the more progressive unions such as HERE, SEIU, UNITE and the United Farm Workers have studied their labor history. The fact is, workers don�t check their other identities and social positions at the shop floor door; they are people of color, women, immigrants, gays and workers on the shop floor, at home, at church, at the store, and on all the streets in between.



• Freedom Riders Share Their Reasons for Participating in the Historic Ride
  1/1/2004. AFL-CIO
  Throughout the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, the spirit and determination of the riders inspired and energized people at every stop. Each rider spent two weeks away from home and traveled thousands of miles to carry a message and to support the cause of justice and freedom for all. Listen as they describe their reasons for making the historic journey.



• The new civil rights movement
  11/29/2003. The Plain Dealer
  They stood in khakis and work shirts on Cleveland's near West Side and in the streets of downtown Toledo, a bus idling nearby, and made their demands: College aid. Health care. Union membership. Legal status.



• Guest Viewpoint: Immigrant freedom rides a catalyst
  11/6/2003. The Register-Guard
  The national movement for immigrant rights took a blow after the horror of Sept. 11, 2001. Much of the progress toward developing a legalization program that had been made only days earlier between George Bush and Mexico's Vicente Fox came to a screeching halt. Suddenly, all immigrants were seen as suspicious.



• People Power: Assuring rights for immigrants
  10/30/2003. Miami News Times
  Picking up its cues from the civil rights movement, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, organized by a broad coalition of union-friendly groups and one cerebral celeb, recently launched a reform campaign targeting laws hurtful to new arrivals. Three weeks ago dozens of activist-laden buses departed from various American cities, stopping now and then for town meetings and generally raising awareness for their cause. Now these road-tested rights advocates, supported in part by some South Florida pols, are pausing before logging the next mile.



• Graciela Ramirez: Her ride for freedom
  10/27/2003. The Desert Sun
  Graciela Ramirez expected the Immigration Workers Freedom Ride to be tough, but jail time? Ramirez signed on to a 12-day, cross-country journey knowing it meant long days on occasionally stifling buses, little sleep, cramped quarters and sporadic meals.



• L.A.�s new Freedom Riders take their quest for immigrant equality on the road
  10/26/2003. LA Weekly
  The morning fog has not yet burned off, but more than 200 people have already gathered in the Westlake parking lot of the L.A. County Federation of Labor. Despite the early hour, they�re already clapping, practically jumping up and down with excitement, chanting what will be the first of many, many hundreds if not thousands of ebullient rounds of �S�, se puede!� (roughly: �Yes, we can!�).



• Council passes employee rights resolution
  10/21/2003. The Chronicle
  Following on the heels of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride three weeks ago, the Durham City Council passed a resolution Monday night that scored an important victory for the immigrant community. The council also received comments concerning rezoning and future development of the University property.



• Freedom ride takes 90-city tour
  10/16/2003. National Catholic Reporter
  



• Lift Shadow From Illegal Immigrants
  10/15/2003. The Los Angeles Times
  Suddenly the issue of illegal immigration is back in the air. Politicians on the left and right, as well as business, labor and grass-roots protesters, are all insisting we cannot live with the status quo.



• Immigrants, supporters march through Selma
  10/14/2003. The Auburn Plainsman
  



• The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, a local and national perspective
  10/10/2003. Portland State University Vanguard
  The ride is over, but the issues raised still resonate locally and nationally.



• Flushing rally calls for amnesty for illegal immigrants
  10/9/2003. Astoria Times
  Immigrants and their supporters packed Flushing Meadows Corona Park on a chilly and windy afternoon Saturday for what organizers called the largest pro-immigrant workers� rally in U.S. history.



• Let Freedom Roll
  10/9/2003. The Nation
  In 1961, 19-year-old Ruby Doris Smith arrived in Rock Hill, South Carolina, fully expecting the violent racist fury that awaited her and the other black students on her bus. At the time, the term "Freedom Ride" had not yet come into use.



• Immigrant workers call for legalization, rights
  10/9/2003. The Gazette
  Hundreds of immigrant workers walked into Bible Way Temple in the District on Oct. 1, shouting the now anthem-like "Si se puede!," and carrying signs with 'Seattle," "Boston" and other cities' names on them.



• Students rally for workers
  10/7/2003. Yale Daily News
  About 75 Yale students, many of whom belong to the Undergraduate Organizing Committee and the Yale Coalition for Peace, rode with 11 busloads of New Haven immigrants and supporters to a New York City rally Saturday, marking the culmination of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride.



• Farmworkers give us food for thought
  10/7/2003. New York Daily News
  Ramon Ramirez had been riding the bus for 12 days going on 30 years - ever since the day he first heard Cesar Chavez. Ramirez and his fellow farmworkers came to New York last weekend all the way from Woodburn, Ore., a dusty agricultural community of 20,000 people in the Willamette Valley.

�