A day to celebrate worker solidarity, May 1 – also known as May Day – was a pivotal moment in U.S. history when in 1886 labor unions went on strike to force an eight-hour work day.
This May Day, however, the “Mayday Bring Them Home” rally hosted by Indivisible Bucks County will be an expression of immigrant solidarity locally that aims to “flood” Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s Langhorne office, calling on the First Congressional District Republican incumbent to visit El Salvador and see for himself “what he is silently backing and what the Trump Administration has done,” Kierstyn Zolfo, an event organizer for Indivisible Bucks County said.
“We want him [Fitzpatrick] to stand for the rule of law, which means due process for anyone being removed from our country, and we want him to publicly denounce these abuses and fight to ensure that constitutional rights are upheld for everyone,” Zolfo said.
Immigration and labor events across the country planned for May 1 call attention to the Trump Administration’s aggressive deportation policies and those being sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a maximum security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Cancelling international student visas is another immigration topic.
CNN reported about 52 percent of Americans are concerned about the roundup and deportation tactics mandated by Trump, and about 57 percent said they do not believe careful attention to the law is being paid to immigrant targets.
READ: ICE Deports Immigrant Mother of an Infant and 3 Children Who Are US Citizens
Indivisible Bucks County has called on concerned citizens to “flood” Fitzpatrick’s Langhorne office and urge him to visit the El Savador prison where “disappeared” legal residents and others are “being illegally warehoused,” an Indivisible Bucks County press release said.
Zolfo said the recent 287(g) partnership agreement has made Thursday’s Bucks County event even “more focused on immigration policies.”
Last week, Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran confirmed he had applied for and was awaiting signed paperwork from Washington D.C. to become part of the 287(g) ICE “task force multiplier model,” which trains and deputizes local community law enforcement to act as “de facto” ICE agents as they perform daily duties, according to a Bucks County Beacon news exclusive.
“The folks who make our community move and animate it tend to be immigrants. It is unions that employ them – and from a set number of hours per day, overtime pay, vacation and family leave all these things are direct results of the labor movement,” Zolfo explained.
“One of the people we’ll be celebrating is Renee DiSabella. She was imprisoned by the Nazi’s in France during WWII,” Zolfo said. DiSabella lived to be 100 before her death this past winter.
A letter written by DiSabella before her death will be read by her daughter, Renee Donahey, at the Thursday rally.
A lifelong anti-fascist, activist and immigrant, DiSabella came to the U.S. – and Bucks County – during the 1950s from France and “built a life here.”
READ: ICE Agents Patrolling Bucks County? Not on Our Watch
“She brought the tag the Nazi’s forced her to wear, and she was a regular at our events,” Zolfo said.
Zolfo said Indivisible Bucks County is asking those who attend the rally to bring copies of a letter specifically addressing Fitzpatrick and those who have been “disappeared.”
A draft letter is available for rally attendees to use.
“We want Fitzpatrick to stand for the rule of law, which means due process for anyone being removed from our country,” Zolfo said.
If you go:
Who: Concerned Bucks County voters
When: 5 p.m. Thursday, May 1
Where: Outside the office of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s, Summit Square Shopping center, 1717 Langhorne Newtown Rd., Langhorne
For more information visit Indivisible Bucks County.
