AAPI Workers to Join with Activists in San Diego and Tijuana to Unite Movements for Immigrant Worker Rights Across US-Mexico Border
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY for Saturday, August 27, 2022
Media Contact: Katie Moy Mostris, (914) 208-0284, katie@apala.org; Veena Hampapur, (213) 370-9601, veenash@ucla.edu
AAPI WORKERS TO JOIN WITH ACTIVISTS IN SAN DIEGO AND TIJUANA TO UNITE MOVEMENTS FOR IMMIGRANT WORKER RIGHTS ACROSS US-MEXICO BORDER
From Saturday, August 27th through Sunday, August 28th, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the UCLA Labor Center will bring together 50 Asian American and Pacific Islander union leaders and labor activists in San Diego and Tijuana for a weekend of information-sharing and solidarity-building with worker and community-led campaigns for immigrant and migrant worker justice.
In San Diego, panels with AAPI immigrant youth organizers, human rights lawyers, immigration policy experts, and San Diego immigrant advocates will discuss local, state, and federal legislation. Panels will focus on protecting and strengthening the rights of working people from immigrant, migrant, refugee, and undocumented communities.
In Tijuana, participants will visit the border wall, a migrant worker training center, and a migrant crisis center to hear from Mexico-based community leaders, deported veterans, and worker organizers about their current campaigns. Participants will learn how labor organizations and activists on both sides of the border can support each other’s efforts.
AAPI workers, students, and community members have long been at the forefront of the immigrant rights movement, leading and working in interethnic and interracial coalitions with other immigrant and undocumented activists. The San Diego-Tijuana Immigration and Racial Justice Workshop and Border Tour will continue to build solidarity between labor and immigrant rights activists across the US-Mexico border and offer participants testimonials, strategies, and concrete actions they can bring back to their labor unions and community organizations.
This weekend of events is part of an ongoing collaboration between APALA and the UCLA Labor Center focused on the critical need for unions to take action on AAPI and racial justice issues such as: addressing anti-Asian racism in the labor movement, protecting voting rights, mobilizing members to support Black Lives Matter, and continuing the fight for immigrant justice.
WHAT: Immigration and Racial Justice Workshop and Border Tour with AAPI workers, labor leaders, and community activists regarding the interconnected fights for immigrant rights, worker rights, and racial justice
WHO: Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance leaders and union members; UCLA Labor Center; organizers and worker activists from San Diego and Tijuana-based labor, community, and human rights organizations
WHEN: Saturday, August 27th – Sunday, August 28th
WHERE: Various sites in San Diego, CA, and Tijuana, B.C.
AGENDA:
August 27th – San Diego
Racial Justice and Immigrant Rights Workshop
Interactive session on AAPI Labor History
Panels on “AAPI Immigrant Youth” and “The Fight for Immigrant Rights and Border Justice”
August 28th – San Diego and Tijuana
Tour of San Diego-Tijuana Border Wall (Friendship Park)
Tour of migrant worker training center and migrant crisis center
Meetings with Tijuana-based community and labor activists
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