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Immigrant groups differ on boycott

BY TOM BRUNE AND PETER CLARK | Newsday Washington Bureau

April 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - Mirroring a national split in the largely Hispanic immigrant reform movement, officials of La Fuerza Unida Inc., of Glen Cove, and the Workplace Project of Hempstead yesterday sent different signals to immigrants on whether to support the May 1 nationwide boycott and strike being urged by some activists.

La Fuerza Unida is advising caution, concerned about immigrant firings and the effect on the Senate as it weighs legislation, while the Workplace Project is encouraging participation in any way possible, confident that without mobilization there will be no progress.

The question of what to do on May 1, the international labor day, is confronting local and national groups across the country, presenting the fledgling, and multiheaded, immigrant movement with one of its first major challenges.

At a Washington news conference yesterday, the National Council of La Raza and groups from Los Angeles, Chicago and the D.C. area tiptoed around the issue, but they pointedly refused to support the boycott.

Instead, groups leaders said they would offer alternate activities after work such as marches and rallies. And they proposed a day of national service later in May, in which immigrants would paint schools and community centers, to win a "fuzzy feeling" among U.S. citizens.

Ultimately, whether to boycott their jobs is up to local groups and the immigrants themselves, the leaders said.

On Long Island, Alberto Munera of La Fuerza Unida said, "The social service agencies are polarized on this issue."

His group will decide next week. But he urges caution, concerned about putting immigrants' jobs on the line and alienating supporters.

"There are concerns about the impact of the boycott on the silent majority," Munera said.

But Nadia Marin Molina of the Workplace Project said immigrants should participate in the boycott Monday, May 1. "We're asking people to do all they can," she said, crediting the demonstrations for a chance of positive reform.

"People who hate the protests are the people who would support anti-immigration legislation anyway," she said.