By Sue Wolinsky
About ten WSD members and friends were among the 1,500 protestors who
participated in the Immigrants and Workers Day of Action in Santa Fe on
February 3. This was 2-1/2 times more than the 600 participants that were
expected, according to Rachel LaZar of El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos.
Somos Accion, along with El Centro and other immigrant advocate groups,
coordinated the day’s activities.
The day began with training on immigration issues inside the Farmers
Market building at the railyards. “The presentations were made in Spanish,”
said WSD member Sue Wolinsky, “with English translations available with
headsets. That was an experience that I needed to have – being in the small
number of Anglos there and not understanding the language of the
presenters. It humbled me…. I also connected with representatives of
immigrant advocate groups. That was important too.”
WSD members attending included Mark Finley, Glenn Smith, Carol Trujillo-
Fay, Gerri Warner, Nancy Wesemann, Dorothy Wilkinson, and Sue Wolinsky.
“We carried our WSD banner with pride in the one-mile march to the
Roundhouse,” said Nancy Wesemann, who drove several members to the
daylong event and carried the banner with Gerri Warner and Mark Finley
for the duration of the march. “We met Kevin Beck, a Democrat who lives in
the East Mountains and who heard about the event in our WSD Newsletter.
He wants to join us as a member and wants to get involved with protections
for families of immigrants who get deported,” said Sue Wolinsky.
West Side legislators were at the rally too. Sen. Harold Pope met with some
WSD members near the speakers platform. Rep. Eleanor Chavez was a
speaker at the rally. She said she is sponsoring two immigration-related bills
in the 2025 session going on now in Santa Fe. As reported on KRQE News,
Rep. Yanira Gurrola said she is all for criminals being detained, but she
wants students and immigrant workers to feel safe. “We want to continue
making sure that New Mexico is a place who is friendly to a diverse group
of people.”
Read the entire article here Lawmakers speak on national
immigration debate as immigration groups hold rally in Santa Fe. Several
legislators said the rally crowd was so loud that they could hear them from
inside the Roundhouse.
immigration debate as immigration groups hold rally in Santa Fe. Several
legislators said the rally crowd was so loud that they could hear them from
inside the Roundhouse.
The February 3 Gallup Sun described the breadth of the day’s events. “From
New Mexico’s southeastern oil patch to the Four Corners region, immigrant
workers and youth traveled to Santa Fe to rally in support of several
legislative proposals that aim to better integrate the 200,000 mixed-status
immigrant families in the state’s ongoing public safety efforts. These bills
would strengthen MVD and internet data privacy protections, prohibit local
law enforcement agencies from using limited public resources to help ICE
deport New Mexican immigrant families, streamline U-Visa certification
requests for undocumented victims of crime, and curtail local government
contracts to detain immigrants in federal civil immigration custody,” the
article stated. Read the full article here Over 1,000 New Mexican rally in
Santa Fe for immigrants’ rights.
New Mexico’s southeastern oil patch to the Four Corners region, immigrant
workers and youth traveled to Santa Fe to rally in support of several
legislative proposals that aim to better integrate the 200,000 mixed-status
immigrant families in the state’s ongoing public safety efforts. These bills
would strengthen MVD and internet data privacy protections, prohibit local
law enforcement agencies from using limited public resources to help ICE
deport New Mexican immigrant families, streamline U-Visa certification
requests for undocumented victims of crime, and curtail local government
contracts to detain immigrants in federal civil immigration custody,” the
article stated. Read the full article here Over 1,000 New Mexican rally in
Santa Fe for immigrants’ rights.
This event coincided with “A Day Without Immigrants,” a national
movement and protest that highlights the essential role immigrants play in
the U.S. economy. Businesses across the country, including restaurants,
stores, and schools, are closing to protest anti-immigrant policies and
support immigrant rights.
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