Immigrant groups rally in Miami against proposed law

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Immigrant groups rally in Miami against proposed law
By DENISE KALETTE
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI — Busloads of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean rallied Saturday against proposed legislation that would require U.S. employers to provide information to verify the legal status of their workers and would build a fence along parts of the Mexican border.

About 350 people from Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico and other countries heard speeches in Spanish and English, then marched to Miami's Freedom Tower to protest a proposed federal law that immigrant groups say would criminalize the nation's 11 million undocumented workers.

They opposed a bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., that aims to tighten border controls and stop unlawful immigrants from getting jobs.

The most sweeping provision of the House bill would require all employers in the country, more than 7 million, to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national data base to verify workers' legal status.

Florida businesses and workers would be affected by such a bill. Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said about 400,000 immigrant farm workers harvest the state's citrus crop, which contributes to a $9 billion citrus industry.

"We're on the eve of legislation that's going to impact more than 11 million people. It's legislation we haven't seen in 20 years," Rodriguez said.

Many immigrants are angered because they believe the proposed law implies that undocumented workers may be national security risks.

Fermin Badillo, 36, a construction worker who emigrated from Mexico 10 years ago, carried a sign reading, "We are not criminals We are not terrorists."

His wife, Alexandra, said she feared that if the bill becomes law, she would lose the right to a driver's license and car insurance. The couple worried about what they viewed as a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that seemed to have deepened since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's as though we are the cause," Alexandra Badillo said.

She added that it was ironic that the U.S. may fence parts of the Mexican border, while a company in the United Arab Emirates prepared to run operations at six American ports as part of a corporate deal, so that a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers would be in charge of U.S. entry points.

Many who marched support an immigration reform bill by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, which would permit illegal immigrants to obtain work visas for up to six years, with the opportunity to apply for permanent residency.

"We are tired of living in fear," said Marleine Bastien, director of Haitian Women of Miami. "We feel it's important to send a strong message to Congress that we immigrants are united. We gave so much to this country and we feel this country should respect our right to live in dignity."