A panel of immigration activists said yesterday that it will not encourage workers and families to walk off the job and keep their children from school as part of a May 1 boycott, but will hold voter-recruitment and petition drives instead.
The announcement by activists from the District, Chicago and Los Angeles at a news conference in Washington underlined the split among the mostly Latino activist groups that led huge demonstrations in more than 140 cities in recent weeks, and shows that the grass-roots movement is operating at cross purposes toward the same end -- immigration reform and legal status for illegal immigrants.
We will register people to vote and send thousands of e-mails to legislators," said Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland in Silver Spring.
Torres was joined on the panel by representatives from several immigration organizations, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, both based in Los Angeles, and the National Capital Immigration Coalition in the District.
Their plan for civil action is a far cry from the boycotts planned by groups in Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago, where the largest demonstrations have occurred and where Spanish-speaking disc jockeys were instrumental in turning out crowds.
The panelists stressed that they were not discouraging others from boycotting.
But later they said that they do not support the boycott because it could result in people being fired, cause students to miss school and create a climate of disgust that could lead to a backlash by Americans who are not immigrants.
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