May Day: Marching for Immigration Reform

In 1867, American workers launched the first mass labor protest on May 1st to celebrate Illinois’s new eight-hour work day law. Today, nearly 150 years later, we carry on that May Day celebration of the rights of the working class by mobilizing for comprehensive immigration reform.

A pathway to citizenship for the country’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants is good news for ALL workers. How?

• Reform would improve the wages of both immigrant and native workers. The real wages of less-skilled newly legalized workers would increase by roughly $4,405 each year, while higher-skilled workers would get a boost of $6,185. The same study found native workers’ wages would “increase modestly.”
  
  
• Higher incomes would bolster consumer spending—enough to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs in the United States. 
  
  
• Increasing the number of legal immigrants would reduce the deficit. It’s a way to trim our national debt without raising taxes or cutting essential programs.
  
  
• The Gang of Eight proposal, which includes a 13-year path to citizenship, would inject $832 billion into the economy over the next decade. A strong economy means a strong workforce.
  
  
• Immigration fosters innovation.

Join us as we stand united in the fight for immigrant and workers' rights. Find a May Day event near you.