May Day protests for immigrant and workers’ rights are planned for Friday in Wisconsin.
Voces de la Frontera is organizing the “Day Without Immigrants” actions in Madison and Milwaukee. The marches are part of the May Day Strong nationwide day of action. Organizers are calling for “No work. No school. No shopping.”
In Milwaukee, protesters will meet at the Voces offices in Milwaukee at 10 a.m. and march to the Federal Building. Protesters in Madison plan to meet at Library Mall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus at noon and march to the state Capitol.
Madison Public Schools has canceled classes Friday due to anticipated absences. Members of Madison Teachers Inc., the union that represents teachers and staff, are participating in the walkout which their union officially endorsed, as did the South Central Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.
In a statement, MTI said on its website that it is “aligning with Voces de la Frontera’s demands .. . while calling attention to the state’s failure to live up to its obligations to Wisconsin public school students.”
“MTI members voted overwhelmingly to take this action because our country is in crisis, and our vulnerable communities are paying the price.” The statement said, adding, “Our students are experiencing heightened anxiety, leading to absences and trouble concentrating at school. They are afraid that ICE agents will come for them, their parents, or their friends—a heavy burden no child should have to bear.”
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, the Milwaukee-based immigrant workers’ rights group, said during a press conference last week in the Wisconsin State Capitol that this year’s May Day is unique.
“It represents a very important national escalation of resistance against the growing inequality between the ultra rich and working people,” Neumann said. “It lifts up the national demands of abolish ICE, citizenship for all, an economy for all, and it includes the state demands of abolishing 287g” — agreements with local law enforcement agencies to aid federal immigration enforcement — “which has been aggressively growing like a cancer in our state, and the closing of the ICE processing facility in Milwaukee.”
Neumann added that it is a day of “solidarity with immigrant workers and their families who are being terrorized by militarized operations, the use of physical violence, racial profiling, warrantless arrests, and deadly conditions and detention centers” and “to defend our basic constitutional rights that are being challenged, regardless of immigration status.”
According to a map on the May Day Strong website, there are actions planned in nearly 40 locations across Wisconsin.
