More actions for civil rights, Elvira Arellano a candle in the sanctuary!

Immigration reform coalitions rejoin, call for consumer boycott
By PETER PRENGAMAN - Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

After splintering over a year ago, two Los Angeles immigrant coalitions joined forces Tuesday while calling for a Sept. 12 consumer boycott in favor of immigration reform.

The groups said they united after the Aug. 19 arrest and deportation of Elvira Arellano, who lived in a Chicago church for a year to avoid deportation. Arellano was detained by immigration agents outside Los Angeles' Our Lady Queen of Angels church near Olvera Street, a Mexican cultural center and tourist area.

Arellano, a leading face in the immigration rights movement, had left the Chicago church a few days before that with plans to lobby lawmakers for reform that would include a path to citizenship for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Her 8-year-old son, Saul, was born in America and is a U.S. citizen.

"It took the sacrifice of that brave woman (Arellano) to break our myopic visions," said Javier Rodriguez of the March 25th Coalition, which is named after a demonstration last year in which 500,000 people rallied in downtown Los Angeles. "This is a new chapter for all of us."

The massive marches across America in the spring of 2006 brought new clout to immigrant organizing groups, but bitter infighting and rifts soon followed. Coalitions, which included Hispanic activists, religious organizations and large unions, disagreed on whether to call for economic boycotts, what kind of reform legislation to lobby for and whether to continue calling for street protests.

While the March 25 Coalition called for and helped organized May 1 boycotts the past two years, the We Are America Coalition in Los Angeles has focused more on citizenship and voter registration drives, along with lobbying Congress.

Both said they were forming the Los Angeles We are All Elvira and Saulito Coalition, and planned to organize a consumer boycott in Los Angeles.

"The only time people in our community are not asked for (immigration-related) identification is when they spend money," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "It's time for America to realize their buying power and contribution to this country."

Different from the May 1 boycotts, which called on workers and students to stay home, this boycott only calls on immigrants and supporters not to spend money.