Where Have All the Immigrants Gone?
Last year's immigrant rights protest was out of character with the well-publicized, poorly-attended quick hitter marches that seem to be de rigueur in Seattle currently. Thirty thousand people came out for that one and snaked through the streets of Downtown for hours. Yesterday afternoon we left the office a few minutes early to try and track down the 2007 version and after chasing 5th all the way back to Westlake Center and coming up empty we found exactly one dude in the square with some immigrant rights flyers. "Yeah, they're already back at Seattle Center. I stayed here." That was 5:15pm, when the picture to the left was taken across the street from Westlake Center. C'mon guys, can't you linger a little while you're Downtown. You got the permit, take advantage of it. Camp out in the street a little, double back, do something to let us know that a couple thousand immigrants were here looking for their rights. Don't fly down your route like Eastern Washington is a half-block behind simultaneously trying to deport you and employ you under the table.
This quote from the P-I's story on the demonstration gives a clue as to why the attendance was down so much from last year:
Hearing more rumors of raids and surprise arrests of undocumented workers, she and her husband have stayed put in their home in Burien, leaving only to go to work.
Yikes. Well done, America.
The demonstration was organized mainly by El Comité Pro-Amnistia General y Justica Social (The Committee for General Amnesty and Social Justice), a non-profit organization composed mostly of local social, labor and religious groups.Organizers want a moratorium on raids and deportations, citing four episodes in Washington in recent months that resulted in nearly 70 arrests for various immigration violations.
They seek comprehensive immigration change that does not separate families, which they say could occur when undocumented parents -- but not their U.S.-born children -- are detained or deported.
