Migrant Amnesty Urged

An exuberant, overflow crowd of 20,000 clamored for a new amnesty for undocumented workers Saturday at a labor-sponsored forum that showcased a new and formidable alliance among unions and religious and community groups.

“This is going to affect policy and politics in Los Angeles for years to come,” said Miguel Contreras, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Contreras said he was “ecstatic” about the turnout that left several thousand standing outside the Los Angeles Sports Arena while inside at least 16,000 chanted, stomped their feet and waved American flags.

The crowd’s upbeat and determined mood was a remarkable turnaround from just six years ago, when a backlash provoked by California’s recession put many immigrants on the defensive. Instead, on Saturday participants from as far away as Seattle cheered slogans such as “Aqui estamos y no nos vamos”--We are here and we’re not leaving.

“You can only beat up on people for so long before they start fighting back,” said Eliseo Medina, a vice president of the Service Employees International Union, who was among a core of California labor leaders who pushed the AFL-CIO to reexamine its position on immigration.

Several months ago, the AFL-CIO surprised many by calling for a new amnesty and an end to employer sanctions, which it had supported in the mid-1980s. Since then, it has sponsored a series of forums around the country to highlight its position and build support for federal legislation.

Like other forums in Atlanta, New York and Chicago, Saturday’s event featured testimony from workers who said employers had taken advantage of their illegal status.

They included 17-year-old Carmen Colin, a Mexico City-born farm worker who broke down in tears when describing her thwarted ambition to attend college; Ofelia Para, an apple packer in Yakima, Wash., who said she and her undocumented co-workers were afraid to complain about low wages and repetitive stress injuries; and Jose Angel Juarez Falcon, a construction worker in Seattle who recalled how co-workers injured themselves while jumping from a second-story window during an immigration raid.

“Looking for a better future for our families is not illegal,” Juarez said to loud cheers.

As the arena erupted, AFL-CIO Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson took in the scene and exhaled. “Wow,” she said. “This is an awesome display. It gives us the energy we need to put together a report and look for a strategy to achieve these goals.”

More than a dozen nations were represented Saturday, from Bangladesh to Taiwan, but the crowd was dominated by Mexican and Central American immigrants, many of whom waved the flags of their home countries as well as the United States.

Speakers alternated between Spanish and English, with simultaneous translations flashed on television screens. Even Cardinal Roger M. Mahony tried his hand, telling the crowd in polished Spanish: “You have my support and blessings during this long and difficult campaign.”

Contreras said leaders of the new coalition of religious and civic groups and labor unions would meet today to discuss how they can build momentum for a legislative package. So far, no major political backers have come forward to support a general amnesty. Even proponents say there is little support for such legislation beyond California.

When Congress passed the last general amnesty in 1986, backers said it would be a one-time program. Tough border enforcement and sanctions against employers who hire undocumented workers were supposed to prevent more illegal immigration. But today there are an estimated 5 million to 6 million undocumented immigrants, at least as many as in the early 1980s.