An Early MAY DAY Message from Pasadena Day Laborers: “If You Accept Our Labor, You Must Accept Our Humanity”

*Workers and organizers available for interviews

Pasadena, CA – On Wednesday morning, Pasadena day laborers and allies held a covid-safe car Caravan of “Essential and Excluded workers” to Pasadena City Hall with a message for Mayor Tornek and all local and state elected officials.

“Do not accept the federal government’s exclusion of immigrant families from recovery aid. Do the right thing! Make sure all members of our community are safe, and attend to the needs of all essential workers,” said Pablo Alvarado, Co-Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) that anchored the Caravan along with POP Pasadena and the Pasadena Community Job Center. He continued, “The most recent threats leveled against sanctuary cities make clear that local leaders have an obligation to defy Trump’s racist dehumanization of immigrants. If Trump calls it amnesty, then so be it. Amnesty is long overdue, and we should not be afraid to demand it from elected leaders at every level of government.”

The federal government has doubled down on racist federal exclusions, denying stimulus aid to millions of workers nationwide. NDLON and grassroots groups across the country are calling on cities and states to help fill the enormous gap between immigrants and life saving assistance left by the federal government.

Two days before May Day, international workers day, the caravan in Pasadena consisted of over 50 cars, most of them day laborers and other workers excluded from the federal stimulus.

The global pandemic has made clear that working people – day laborers, janitors, domestic workers, factory workers and every area of food service workers – are essential parts of the US economy, and communities everywhere. While millions are safe at home, immigrants are out and working, not just contributing but subsidizing entire industries.

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