Diverse coalition of labor & immigrant groups, DACA & TPS recipients, & domestic workers will demonstrate the power of immigrant communities in South Florida
MIAMI — On May Day, hundreds of South Floridians will participate in a National Day of Action and Resistance to support the rights of immigrants and workers against Trump’s divisive agenda.
The diverse coalition of immigrant rights, racial justice, and labor groups will demand an end to policies attacking immigrants, support for good jobs and the right to organize; and a federal budget that reflects our communities’ priorities, without a single dollar for a border wall or unjust immigration enforcement.
The events will also feature art, musical performances, and spoken word to reflect the rich heritage of our communities. Rallies and marches will be held in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Homestead.
Click here for a complete list.
MIAMI RALLY & MARCH
Monday, May 1st, from 6pm – 8pm
Stephen P. Clark Government Center, 111 NW 1st St Miami, FL
Featured Speakers: Phillip Agnew (Dream Defenders), Marleine Bastien (FANM), DACA & TPS recipients, domestic workers, and Leah, an 11-year-old girl whose mother is facing deportation.
Featured Entertainers: Haitian folk dance group and poet, Aja Monet
Organizations: SEIU Florida, 32BJ SEIU, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Friends of Miami-Dade Detainees, Miami Workers Center, South FL AFL-CIO, United We Dream, AFSCME, SJT, For Our Future Florida
FT. LAUDERDALE RALLY
Monday, May 1st, from 5pm – 7pm
Bubier Park, 32 Las Olas Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale
Featured Speakers: Randi Weingarten, National Union President of American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Andrea Mercado (National Domestic Worker Alliance), DACA & TPS recipients.
Featured Entertainers: LaVie, Pinkslip Duo, and Konpa on the Rise Organizations: SEIU Florida, 32BJ SEIU, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Broward Teachers Union, Women’s March of Broward, POWIR
“Immigrants play a key role in the economic growth of our state with 42.9% of Fortune 500 companies reported to be started by immigrants and generating over $5.2 billion in the state of Florida,” said Julio Calderon of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “On May 1st, we celebrate our power as consumers, workers, business leaders, and as a united movement to stand against Trump’s inhumane deportation tactics and attempts to criminalize hard-working families.”
“Every day, low wage wage workers run this country. Every day, our work is not appreciated and we are paid poverty wages. On May Day this year, workers all over the world will stand with immigrants to celebrate what we contribute to society and demand the dignity and respect that we deserve from those in power in power,” Laura Rollins, Fight for $15/hr organizer.
“The Trump administration wants to push even more immigrants into the shadows, which hurts all workers and creates an underclass of people,” said Leonard Cadet, airport worker at FLL. “As one of the many Haitian immigrants who work at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, I have seen the exploitation that many of my co-workers experience. That is why we are coming together as workers—Black, Latino, and immigrants—to say that we are all human beings that deserve dignity and respect.”
Immigrants strengthen our economy by creating millions of jobs every year, running almost a fifth of the small businesses across America. Despite their significant economic and cultural contributions, politicians continue to portray working families as criminals, wasting more than $4.5 billion to further to militarize our southern border, strengthen and already inhumane deportation force and build a wall, estimated to cost $21 billion.
At the events, leaders will call for an end to the Trump administration’s divisive and destructive mass deportation strategy. Speakers will also demand the renewal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which will soon expire for thousands of Haitians, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and other immigrants who live in South Florida.
In Miami, where a Florida Circuit judge recently ruled that Miami Dade County’s policy of holding detainees for ICE was unconstitutional, protesters will rally in front of Miami Dade County’s offices at the Stephen P. Government Center.
In Fort Lauderdale, activists will demand that Broward commissioners pass an ordinance that ensures local law enforcement won’t cooperate with ICE, pointing to the recent court decisions in Miami and in California, where a federal judge ruled that the federal government cannot withhold funds from “sanctuary cities”. Advocates will also call for Chase and Wells Fargo to divest from the private prison industry.
