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On Friday afternoon in Watsonville, community members let Maria Shriver, wife of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, know just how they felt about her visit to their heavily immigrant city. Carrying signs that read, "Arnold Supports Terrorists" and "No Somos Tu Picture Op! Terminator Go Home!", people protested the visit from California's first lady. Billed as a promotion of the food stamp program, many attendees felt it was staged as a public relations opportunity with the Mexican-American community on behalf of her husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is up for re-election this November.

On July 14th, 25 protesters with the East Bay Coalition for Border Security, a racist, anti-immigrant group in Fremont that is seeking affiliation with the Minutemen, were met by twice as many counter-protesters at a rally in Fremont which takes place every other Friday during the summer. For the first time, the counter-protesters were violently assaulted by the Minutemen wannabes and repressed by the Fremont police. As can be seen in a video taken at the event, a member of the EBCBS shoved and punched two of the anti-racist counter-protesters. This came after another violent altercation with a young Latino man.

Organizers with Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians (DAAA) Collective, and Aztlan Rising, held a counter protest against the anti-immigration group Save Our State, (SOS). The two groups started on opposite sides of the street, and then counter protestors crossed, and both groups were mashed together. It was documented that white power activists were in attendance at the demonstration.

As the government and the American public debate what should be done to fix the US immigration system, anti-immigrant forces are mailing bricks (to "help" build a wall along the border) to members of Congress. These bricks are symbols of division, isolation, and an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform. Advocates plan to counter the anti-immigrant bricks with a symbol of the positive contributions that immigrants make to the U.S. -- work gloves. Immigrant rights supporters are being encouraged to send a work glove to the Washington, DC offices of their local Senators and Representatives.

Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, college students in Tucson, Arizona, are facing up to 15 years in prison on felony charges for the volunteer work they did last summer to help undocumented immigrants in the Arizona desert. Their trial is set to begin in August. Sellz and Strauss are in the Bay Area this week to build support for their defense campaign. They will speak on Tuesday, June 20th, at the Friends' AFSC Hall in SF, 65 Ninth St. (between Mission and Market Streets).

On Monday, June 19th, as part of Juneteenth commemorations, the anniversary of the declaration of the end of slavery of Africans in the US, a rally in the Bayview District demanded amnesty for all immigrants.

There will be a rally to send a message to owners of businesses like the Si Señor Taqueria that the community will not tolerate the use of immigration status to abuse workers. The rally will take place on Wednesday May 24th at 11:30am, at Si Senor Taqueria, 53 Stevenson St (one block down from Market and 2nd towards Mission, then left on Stevenson).

Sonia Cano and Carlos Barrancos are the couple whose story Indybay covered this winter: Carlos was taken into ICE custody and sent out of state when Sonia was 9 months pregnant with their first child.

Sonia first started working with Young Workers United in June 2004 after she filed a claim against Si Señor, the restaurant where she had worked, with the Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement, which is the agency that enforces the minimum wage of $8.82 for San Francisco. Right before Sonia filed her claim, she told her employer she was three months pregnant. Two days later she was suddenly fired for “indiscipline.” The employer often spoke against pregnant workers, and used racial slurs denigrating workers’ Mayan heritage.

In the following months, YWU, Sonia and Carlos worked to bring together other Si Señor workers to file minimum wage claims and demand respect from the owners. Workers stood up to the owner, demanding a stop to the racial harassment. Seeing the presence of workers organized with YWU, the racial harassment stopped and workers filed minimum wage claims. In direct retaliation for Sonia fighting for her rights and organizing her co-workers, the owners sent an anonymous letter making false and defamatory accusations against the family to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE acted immediately without any investigation, and on December 16th they raided Sonia and Carlos’ home and took Carlos into custody. He was held in Arizona for five weeks. Immediately Carlos began organizing his fellow detainees. He told them not to sign the voluntary deportation forms and to call YWU.

Sonia Cano won the minimum wage case, and this month she settled a claim with Si Señor for charges of discrimination, defamation, and retaliation with firing and sending ICE. Cano stated: "Don’t remain silent. Stand up for your rights and look for support from the community because we all deserve our rights at work."

Young Workers United | Photos and Report from YWU from 5/17 | Women's Employment Rights Clinic