The large May 1 immigration reform rally and march that flowed down Mission Street and into the Civic Center set the stage for Tuesday’s vote by the San Francisco Board for Supervisors calling for a boycott of Arizona and Arizona-based companies.
Energized by their opposition to a tough new law adopted by the state of Arizona that gives police the power to question people about their citizenship and makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally, marchers demanded that the Obama administration address comprehensive immigration reform and called for a boycott.
“I’m here to help everyone here,” said Yousof, 12, of San Francisco Community School, to the cheers of an overflowing crowd at 24th and Mission streets, summing up the spirit of the crowd. “I have my dad and mom here, and my grandma in another country. Some people have their family in other countries like my grandma and grandpa. And if they build a wall we will have to just stay here … they’re going to ruin everything.”
Along the march, Salvador Mora, a retired resident of the Tenderloin, said, “I came here today because of the Arizona law. I was born here and am 58 years old. I don’t want to be stopped.” He supports a general amnesty for illegal immigrants in the United States, he said. “They have all been here too long to be deported, they have families, they have houses.”
At City Hall, Supervisor David Campos, himself an immigrant, addressed the cheering crowd in Spanish, calling for immigration reform and railing against the new Arizona law. He said the Board of Supervisors would vote Tuesday on a resolution calling for a boycott of Arizona. “We need swift action on this issue,” he said, “not a working group.”
Organized labor had a heavy presence at the rally, with more than a dozen unions represented and church groups out in force.
“On behalf of labor unions here in San Francisco and all across the U.S. we will be fighting for comprehensive immigration reform,” said Tim Paulson, director of the San Francisco Labor Council.
Paulson said he is a Swedish immigrant and a supporter of immigration reform: “We ask that the raids stop. That the workplace raids stop. That the kicking down of doors stop. There is no such thing as an illegal worker, an illegal person.”
Fred Pecker, secretary-treasurer of ILWU Local 6, said he wants immigration reform addressed: “If everyone could be legalized it would be impossible to exploit these workers. NAFTA and free trade are causing displacement. Factory farms in the U.S. make it impossible for the small farmers in Mexico.”
“The country was built by immigrants without papers,” Pecker said. “These are the kind of laws the happened in Nazi Germany, in South Africa during apartheid, and here in the United States to the Japanese during World War II. I hope the attorney general challenges the Arizona law and brings it before the Supreme Court.”
Across from the City Hall rally, nestled next to the steps, there was a counter-demonstration of roughly 50 people, organized by the Golden Gate Minutemen, with support of the Tea Party.
Tensions ran high as they voiced their opposition to illegal immigration, called for more workplace raids and criticized San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy. Police and rally organizers struggled at times to keep the two groups apart, bringing in extra barricades as some pro-immigration demonstrators challenged the counter-protesters.
