Below is the speech given at the labor caucus at the Democratic National Convention by Olivia Vazquez from Juntos.
My name is Olivia Vazquez. I’m here as an undocumented immigrant and a youth organizer at Juntos. Even though I’m here to talk to you as a DACA recipient, I am also here to talk to you as someone from a family of workers and I want you to see me as that.
My mother has worked in restaurants for 15 years. Read more
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Applauding the #Not1More Campaign
April 4, 2014
(Washington, DC) The AFL-CIO is proud to join the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) and other community allies as a sponsor of the “Two Million Too Many National Day of Action” this Saturday, April 5th.
In more than 50 locations across the country, labor and immigrant rights groups will express with one voice that continuation of the deportation crisis is incompatible with our values as a country. From actions in Atlanta, Georgia to Tacoma, Washington, and from Clovis, New Mexico to Washington, D.C., the labor movement stands with the pro-immigrant movement’s fight for an end to the deportation crisis.
House Republicans have, in the time since the Senate passed its bill, allowed zero votes on the Senate bill while promulgating a flimsy eight paragraphs of throat-clearing “standards.” Their callous disregard for immigrants appears to be as dug in as it is appalling. Their obstruction of comprehensive immigration reform must end.
Enough is enough—we need the passage of immigration reform that leads to citizenship and an end to a deportation machine that criminalizes hardworking immigrants while deporting hundreds and hundreds of people a day without even an appearance before a judge. The Administration shouldn’t just wait for a tone-deaf Republican Party to finally listen to voices from Pope Francis to the business community. We need the Administration to do the right thing on behalf of immigrants in order to energize the majority and overcome Republican obstruction.
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