All in a Day's Work

Peaceful protest of hiring practices
Sunday, August 12, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

Activists on both sides of the immigration debate squared off Saturday on the street that divides Dumont and Bergenfield, rallying within shouting distance of the day laborers who are at the center of their battle.

Members of the pro-immigrant Residents Against Racism showed up to counter-protest an anti-illegal immigration group, the United Patriots of America, which holds weekly rallies on the Dumont side of Columbia Avenue. The UPA has targeted the location for more than a year because of a day laborer pick-up spot across the street in Bergenfield. [Image, above, courtesy of residentsagainstracism.net]

"Our big gripe is with the employers," said Charles Nussman of Westwood, a UPA member. "It's illegal for businesses to hire these people, but they do."

But other than some shouting between the competing protesters, the rally -- which drew about 40 people -- was entirely peaceful. Police made no arrests, although officers from both towns monitored the block, especially in light of a clash at a rally in Morristown two weeks ago for Mayor Donald Cresitello, who favors immigration control.

"We're just standing here to show these United Patriots that there are people in this community who support the workers here, and we don't like them harassing the workers," said Residents Against Racism leader Greg Pason of Maywood. "They don't represent us."

The Columbia and Washington avenues intersection has become a focal point in the debate about immigration in New Jersey over the past year, with Rochelle Park-based RAR showing up regularly to counter protest the UPA.

Though the stand-off continues week after week, day laborers have become accustomed to the groups' presence. To them, the weekly protests are merely a murmur, part of the landscape, and business continues as usual.

"If we are not working today, we are working tomorrow, so our spirit is good," said Edbin Santos, a day laborer from Hackensack who was waiting on Columbia Avenue. "The only thing not good is that the people over there, they have children, and they are not spending this time with them."

The UPA, founded by Ron Bass of Linden, protests weekly and takes pictures of cars that pick up laborers. The group voices their support for a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would deputize local police officers to enforce immigration laws.

"How can those people be against upholding existing laws?" Nussman said, pointing across the street.
[Image, left, courtesy of upa-bergen.com]

"We compare it to deputizing police officers to be IRS auditors," said Pason of section 287(g). "It also opens up the door to abuse within families or from employers, because [immigrants] would be afraid to report incidents to the police."

The UPA brought reinforcements, including members of the Carlstadt-based NJ Citizens for Immigration Control and the New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement after word got out about a large counter-protest.

"We put out calls to progressive news services and immigration Web sites" to drum up support for Saturday's protest, Pason said. "We'll try to do this on a monthly basis."

Pason began a weekly counter-protest last summer to show solidarity with the workers when he discovered that the UPA had set up a weekly demonstration across the street with such signs as "Jail People Who Hire Illegal Aliens" and "Save the American Worker/No Amnesty."

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.