by
MR: It's not the same thing to say something behind a desk with a good salary working in a nice office like those folks in Washington, D.C. than to make a statement in a corner, you know, in Queens or any city in the states, or somebody who is working in a field, picking strawberries or oranges. They know what they want. And for example, when we talk about legalization, that's a term that we need to spell. If you ask somebody who has been participating in these demonstrations, and ask them, What do you want? People say, the green card! But the people in Congress, when they talk about legalization, they are talking about a work permit, or a green card. We are not talking about that! The communities are not talking about that!
ZAIDEE: Who coordinated it and how did you do the coordination nationally?
MR: Well, in reality, there is not a national coordination. This movement has some dispersion. It has, you know, several heads. That is one concern that we have, what is going to happen with this movement? Someone has to make a cement to link all this that is happening, because otherwise it is going to disappear.
ZAIDEE: Some people have said that these demonstrations are just going to cause more anti-immigrant sentiment. Do you think that's true or do you think it can have some other effect?
MR: You know, the xenophobic groups like the minutemen are saying that. They are afraid because at the end of last year, and at the beginning of this year, they didn't expect all of our communities taking the streets. They are the ones who are saying that. On the other hand, the politicians who at the end make the decisions, like the congresspeople, have to realize that thousands of people who have been marching, like myself, are U.S. cizitens and we vote. Because we have this stigma that the immigrant community is a bunch of undocumented people. That's not true.
ZAIDEE: People always try to say that there is a big rift between people who have already become citizens and people who are undocumented. Do you think that that rift exists or used to exist, and do you think it has changed at all?
MR: No, I don't think that it exists, because in our families, we have people with different status. If I am a citizen and my niece is undocumented, how am I not going to support my relative? You know? That's crazy. That's why we said also we cannot support any bill which will divide our families like the last bill they were proposing. It's like somebody said, we will divide people in three groups. You know, let's say, my uncle si se puede, my nephew, no se puede, and my cousin, mmmm, what are you talking about? We cannot accept that.
ZAIDEE: Will people continue to be organized after this is over and what will be the next step?
MR: Well, there is this national call coming from L.A. asking people on May 1 do not go to work, do not buy. May 1 is another way to put pressure on the Senate. Maybe something pass, but the probability that something passes is very low. So we need to keep organizing our community. …Because the next Congress is coming and we have to put together a bill that really represents the needs of our community.
ZAIDEE: Miguel Ramirez is the president of the Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan in Queens and he co-coordinates Immigrant Communities in Action.