A year after illegal immigration legislation took center stage at Princeton and across the country, Latino students groups' participation in this year's National Day of Mobilization for Immigrant Workers was notably smaller in scale.
As immigrants across the country joined forces yesterday, leading demonstrations to promote civil rights and more lenient immigration laws, on-campus activity was much more low-key. "Practically speaking, today is a smaller showing promoting May Day," Chicano Caucus president Alma Moedano '08 said of yesterday's protests.
The National Day of Mobilization for Immigrant Workers coincides with May Day, which, in the United States, has traditionally been celebrated with an emphasis on broader concerns about workers' rights.
Chicano Caucus members observed the day by posting fliers and sporting t-shirts with phrases such as "Immigrants Right Now" and "Latinos Unidos."
Last year, when Congress considered bills tightening border control and restricting the rights of illegal immigrants, the Chicano Caucus organized a weeklong campaign to highlight immigration issues.
The group circulated petitions promoting fair immigration reform, set up informational tables in Frist Campus Center and held panel discussions on immigration law. Moedano said the efforts were successful among the student body.
"We are mostly a social group, but we keep in mind all of these very important political issues and try to do our best" to promote dialogue about them, Moedano said.
Though the Chicano Caucus does not have an official position on illegal immigration, many of its members are children of Mexican immigrants, making the issue personal as well as political for them.
Alejandro Perez '10 is the son of two Mexican immigrants and a member of Chicano Caucus and Accion Latina, another group for Hispanic students.
He said that discussions of illegal immigration should not be confined to May Day or the Hispanic community. "It's a continual sort of emotion that's there," he said. "It's not just May 1. It's all the time that you're forced to think about these issues."
Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association president Christine Edmiston '09 said immigration is not a prominent part of the group's agenda, largely because Cuba does not deal with illegal immigration the way Mexico does.
"We support basic human rights and freedoms in Cuba," Edmiston said. She added that, though the group lacks an official stance on immigration, "we are compassionate to immigrants."
Even with the decrease in campus activities focused on immigration, Latino student groups said they hope the issues involved continue to be discussed long after May Day is over.
Perez said he thinks simply talking about immigration can be a worthwhile activity. "I hope that the University, through these discussions, will see that [immigration] is an issue on both sides of the border," he said.
It is only then, he added, "that we'll be able to find some sort of solution to the problem because, ultimately, some of us will be the policymakers that will bring about change."
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