Justice for Janitors: Protestdemonstration gegen Flughafenpolizei Los Angeles

Seit dem 18.März hatte der "Immigration and Naturalization Service" (INS - Migrations- und Einbürgerungsdienst), den MigrantInnen aus Lateinamerika normalerweise als "la migra" und dementsprechend als Fremdenpolizei bekannt, 4 Tage lang immer wieder Blitzkontrollen am Flughafen Los Angeles durchgeführt. Solche und andere Kontrollen in vielen Branchen sind nach dem 11.September fast schon zur Regel geworden. Diese Kontrollen gelten in der Regel den Beschäftigten von Subunternehmen, im Falle der Flughäfen aber auch Passagieren.

In Los Angeles hatte die Migra ihre Aktionen in Zusammenarbeit mit den Southwest Airlines organisiert, die ihre Passagiere nach einem Raster der INS zur Überprüfung mitteilten.
Das Raster war einfach: spanischer Familienname plus Ein-Weg Tickets, sprich Latinos auf Arbeitssuche. Da darunter normalerweise viele sind, die keine korrekten Papiere haben und die manches Mal zu fliehen versuchen, kam es zu regelrechten Treibjagden durch den Flughafen und über die stark befahrenen Zufahrtsstraßen hinweg.

Die INS veröffentlichte eine Pressemitteilung in der behauptet wurde, das seien ganz normale Aktionen "gegen Menschenschmuggel" und hätten mit Spezialaktionen wegen des 11.September nichts zu tun. Hintergrund dieser Propaganda ist die Tatsache, daß es bereits an den Flughäfen in Salt Lake City und San Francisco (aber auch in Boston und Chicago) zu Protesten gegen Massenentlassungen von MigrantInnen wegen Papierproblemen gekommen ist, und es dort auch jeweils größere Protestaktionen gab.

Vor der Protestdemonstration in LA hatte nur die Migrantenpresse über die INS Aktionen berichtet, die englischsprachigen Medien berichteten erst aufgrund der Demonstration.

Mike Garcia, SEIU Vorsitzender von Los Angeles - die unter den Flughafenbeschäftigten 2000 Mitglieder hat - forderte ein sofortiges Ende der Spezialkontrollen. Andere KundgebungsrednerInnen wandten sich gegen die rassistischen Profile der Rasterfahndung - "Flüge aus Kanada werden nicht kontrolliert" - und gegen die "Operation Tarmac", in deren Rahmen in den letzten Monaten 125.000 Flughafenbeschäftigte ohne amerikanischen Paß kontrolliert worden waren.

Bei der Aktion am LA Flughafen wurden 184 Personen kontrolliert, davon 183 aus Mexico.

Die eindrucksvolle Protestdemonstration am 28.März fand im Rahmen einer ganzen Serie von Aktionen statt, die MigrantInnenorganisationen zusammen mit Gewerkschaften und kirchlichen Einrichtungen organisiert hatten - etwa für das Recht der "undocumented workers" einen US Führerschein zu bekommen. Hintergrund der verstärkten Aktionen waren nicht nur die Kontrollorgien, sondern auch ein Urteil des Obersten Gerichtshof, demzufolge illegale ArbeiterInnen kein Recht auf gewerkschaftliche Organisation haben - eine Abänderung bisheriger Rechtssprechung....

deutsche Zusammenfassung des Berichts von Helmut Weiss

L.A. AIRPORT MARCH PROTESTS INS RAIDS

By Jon Hillson
LOS ANGELES, March 30 (NY Transfer)

The rhythmic chant of "la clase obrera, no tiene frontera!" ("the working class has no borders"), amplified by bullhorns and a chorus of angry voices, echoed off the walls at Terminal 1 at sprawling Los Angeles International Airport, as hundreds protested a week of Immigration and Naturalization Service Raids carried out here for four days, starting March 18.

The workers shouting the slogan were members of Janitors for Justice, whose sustained battles in the 1990s brought union protection to thousands of overwhelmingly Latino building custodians in Los Angeles. Their determined fight inspired the 2001 film, "Bread and Roses," directed by Ken Loach.

The March 28 demonstration, called by the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), was backed by an array of pro-immigrant rights groups, the Hotel & Restaurant Employees Union, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, religious and community organizations.

While none but the Spanish-language media had publicized the raids-which netted 184 undocumented workers, 183 Mexicans and one Guatemalan-dozens of English speaking radio, television and print reporters covered the march and rally, as well as preceding news conference.

The raids were undertaken by la migra, with the necessary close cooperation of Southwest Airlines bosses, on whose planes many of those swept up in the dragnet were booked on flights to Denver, Phoenix, and Washington, DC, heading for jobs. The airline designates passengers for searches, or a higher level of security, on the basis of name, nationality, appearance, one-way ticket or cash purchases. In this case, one-way tickets and Spanish surnames fit the profile.

According to eyewitnesses, undercover INS agents routinely demanded identification checks of Latino passengers. As the raids unfold, they chased fleeing workers into oncoming traffic, duly recorded on video by local Spanish-language media outlets, and reported on by La Opinión, the city's Spanish-language daily newspaper-stoking outrage in the massive Latino communities of Los Angeles.

The INS claimed the raids were a routine aspect of its actions against "immigrant smuggling." Spokesmen deny they were connected to post-September 11 busts of hundreds of airport workers who have failed "criminal back-ground checks" by the FBI-and have been arrested for perjury for allegedly lying on documents about their legal history-or arrested for using counterfeit social security cards for employment purposes. Protests against such firings took place in Salt Lake City last year. A series of demonstrations have unfolded against related ousters of workers removed from San Francisco airport jobs for not meeting newly imposed requirements for U.S. citizenship to hold such employment.

The goal of the LAX raids, CHIRLA executive director Angelica Salas told the media on March 28, "is to spread fear and terror in our communities, to terrorize hard-working people and their families."

As she, and other speakers addressed the press, workers chanted "el pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido" [the people united will never be defeated].

Jim Lafferty, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, told the crowd that "first they come for the Muslims, then the Arabs, now this. If we don't unite now to stop this, they will come for everybody" denouncing the racist focus of the INS raids.

"They don't raid flights coming from Canada or Britain," he said. "They look for people who fit their profile."

Susan Attar, of the Muslim Public Affairs Council condemned "racial profiling, detentions, and raids, against any and every community, which aim to terrorize us all. We must be together in opposing this, because we are all in this society together."

Mike Garcia, president of the SEIU in Los Angeles-which represents nearly 2,000 airport workers as well as the Justice for Janitors efforts-and HERE president Maria Elena Durazo, demanded a halt to the raids. Both sounded a patriotic theme, as well. "We are all against terrorism," Durazo said, "but these workers have nothing to do with terrorism."

Similar references were made by two religious speakers, one of whom explained that the raids did not "strengthen our nation." A few older marchers carried U.S. flags.

But the tenor of the protest was defiant and diverse, as the Korean drum group Hannuri pounded out sounds, groups of Latino teenagers shouted "aqui estamos y no nos vamos" [we're here and we're not going], and scores of union workers carrying banners and placards chanted, "se ve, se siente, la union está presente" ("see it, feel it, the union's here").

The marchers denounced the INS in colorful terms, and proudly announced their solidarity with the undocumented. "California is the Golden State because of illegal immigrants," read one hand-made placard carried by a union member. "We didn't cross the border, it crossed us," stated another popular placard.

Passengers waiting outside the terminal in security-check lines for the most part watched the protest in silence. Some younger passengers expressed sympathy, while several passing drivers, especially Latino airport delivery workers, honked their horns in solidarity.

The protest came a day after the Supreme Court voted by a 5-4 margin that undocumented workers fired by bosses for union organizing were not entitled to back pay. The decision voided an earlier NLRB finding, and subsequent lower court ruling against a chemical company in Los Angeles country that had ousted a worker trying to organize a union at the plant. These decisions had demand the boss pay the worker over $63,000 in back wages.

Despite the ruling, "we will continue fighting for workers' rights," CHIRLA's Salas told the media.

The robed reactionaries' decision gives legal cover to a common practice of employers to hire undocumented workers while using the threat of the INS to maintain regimes of fear in the workplace. This blow to all labor sharpens the challenge to the unions to step up efforts to organize the millions of undocumented workers who toil in the garment, meatpacking, service, and agricultural production-and in cities like Los Angeles, construction-industries.

A reflection of the success of such efforts was evident at the March 28 LAX protest, where rank-and-file union delegations, overwhelmingly Latino, were the largest. At the same time, there were groups of workers-including the organized jornaleros [day laborers]-activists in Latino and Korean community organizations, senior citizens, and others. Many came to the protest as individuals, or with friends. "I'm not with any group," one young Latina, who with her teenage compañeras alternated chanting in English and Spanish. "We're here because they shouldn't treat anybody like this."

Plainclothes and uniformed police eyed the marchers, but kept their distance. Marshals drawn from sponsoring organizations along with the disciplined militancy of the spirited crowd ensured the security of the event. The political breadth, size, spirit and organization of the action gave participants-including the many undocumented workers there-the confidence to march at the airport, where armed national guardsmen continue to patrol terminals.

One middle-aged worker carried a sign that read "DMV=INS," a reference to the Department of Motor Vehicles and its collaboration with la migra. It also evoked the ongoing fight by undocumented workers to get driver's licenses. There have been regular marches in northern California to win access to this "privilege." Most recently, more than 300 people in Watsonville marched to demand licenses in this farm-worker agricultural center.

On March 23, nearly 10,000 people attended a benefit concert for "the undocumented" -- projects supporting the "legalization of immigrants" -- headlined by Los Tigres del Norte, at the Sports Arena near downtown Los Angeles. The event was preceded by a meeting of union officials, representatives of immigrant rights organizations, and religious figures from nine states, to organize activities in defense of the undocumented. The Los Angeles Times and La Opinión reviewed the concert, the latter terming it the first ever benefit "for the undocumented" in the city.

The event was sponsored by a number of local unions, and key Mexican, Latino, and Central American community organizations. Official representatives of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras from local consular offices attended. The presidents of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras sent video greetings.

The crowd chanted "si se puede" ("yes we can") in support of granting legal status to undocumented immigrants.

Meanwhile, the FBI continues its "criminal back-ground checks" of 40,000 LAX workers with access to "sensitive areas." The INS claims it has arrested 212 such workers in western states thus far, 12 of whom face federal prosecution for "document fraud and other crimes"-after completing investigations of 125,000 airport employees, as part of "Operation Tarmac," launched in the wake of September 11. One million U.S. airport workers are under such scrutiny nationally.

In the face of demands it cease the LAX raids, the INS issued initially conflicting comments about whether it will continue the four-day operation it launched March 18. The most recent declaration affirmed that such actions will be repeated "as necessary."

"They should have been doing operations like this a long time ago," Yeh Ling-Ling, executive director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, a Berkeley-based group that favors harsh measures to curb "illegal immigration," told the Los Angeles Times.

"Illegal immigrants know that once you're in the U.S., you're home free," Ling-Ling stated.

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