Dec 10 Rochester Rally Press Release

To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A RALLY TO SUPPORT THE MIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY

At 3:30 PM on December 10, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a rally is being held at the US Border Patrol Station at 171 Pattonwood Dr. in Rochester, New York.

Cosponsored by 14 organizations, community members from Rochester and Sodus will be joined by supporters from Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca, Geneva, Brockport, Albion and other towns in Western NY and Downstate; from the Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, and Jewish communities; and by farmworkers, laborers, and families who have been broken up by warrantless detentions.

Bishop Prince Singh, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, will kick off the rally, followed by lawyers, pastors and ministers, and local advocates, all with direct experience supporting the migrant community.
Our demands:

1. Cessation of the terrorizing and often warrantless raids and detentions of the migrant population.
2. Progressive Immigration Reform.
3. Equal Rights for Farmworkers.

Background:

Across our region, Federal Agents, State Police, and local law enforcement are stopping people on our roads, on our farms, and in our bus and Amtrak stations because of their skin color and/ethnicity. They are being incarcerated with criminals in county jails throughout the state, not for criminal activity but for the civil activity of not having legal documentation. They come to this country to support their families, because they cannot in their own countries. In the end, families are terrorized, destroyed and impoverished.

Present Immigration Law restricts the adequate flow of migrant labor to work the crops in this area. Farmers go to excessive expense to hire adequate labor through the H-2A visa program and yet have difficulty finding experienced farmworkers. More federal funds are being spent attempting to keep the migrant stream out of our country than working to fix the problem of an adequate manual labor pool and correcting the poverty, which drives migration.

New York State and Federal labor laws still exclude farmworkers from the basic rights and protections of other workers. The dehumanizing aspects of our laws will always prevent us from accepting minorities as equal.

Supported by:
Migrant Support Services of Wayne County,
Wayne Action for Racial Equality, Interfaith Peace Network of WNY
ROCLA, NYCLU, FLSNY
The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester, Buffalo State/Students for Peace
Rural and Migrant Ministry, Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
RAIR, Pax Christi WNY, Detention Taskforce (Syracuse)
Latin American Solidarity Committee of the WNY Peace Center, Catholic Charities of Wayne County