Students Work for Immigration Justice
Juan Manuel, a burly 31-year-old day worker from Mexico, received the nickname “Conan” during his first week at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View.
“When I arrived, a coworker said that Conan is the name of a wrestler in Mexico,” Manuel said. “He said, ‘you look like him. Do you mind if I call you that here?’”
For three years, Manuel has been coming to the Day Worker Center, a central place for laborers to connect with employers who need temporary work in jobs like carpentry and landscaping. Students from the Stanford Immigrant Rights Project (SIRP), an undergraduate organization spreading awareness about immigration justice, have been collaborating with day workers like Manuel each Saturday since last quarter.
“Day laborers can come here and work out a fair wage,” said SIRP member Lauren Swartz ’11. “Otherwise, there’s the danger that an employer could drop off workers on the street without pay after they’ve been landscaping all day.”
A group of 15 SIRP members come weekly to offer English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring and build relationships with the workers.
“I think we all would like to see our broken immigration system being repaired, as it affects human lives and neighbors in all our communities every day,” said Minh Dan Vuong ’11, one of the founding members.
The idea of SIRP originated during the popular Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips last spring quarter. Many of the SIRP volunteers participated in the Arizona or San Diego programs.
SIRP President Sharada Jambulapati ’12, an Arizona ASB alumna, commented on the great resulting influence of her trip.
“After our Arizona trip, our group felt really stirred by what we saw at the border in terms of border patrol, vigilantes, human rights issues and in terms of what these immigrants face,” she said. “We had a lot of questions. How do we not make one service trip temporary? How do we make it so that it can contribute to change?”
Swartz took part in the week-long San Diego trip entitled “Crossing the Line(s): Immigration in San Diego” in which students got a first-hand look at immigrant communities along the border. She, too, noted the impact she felt after directly witnessing border crossing experiences.
“We learned that people are human beings and shouldn’t die when crossing,” Swartz said.
Executive Director of the Day Worker Center Maria Marroquín sympathized with the challenges of day workers, having immigrated from Mexico in 1996. The hardships she saw inspired her to create the Center as a resource for the workers.
“I came here 17 years ago as a former teacher without any English,” she explained. “I had a very hard time finding employment, so I did housecleaning. These day workers have children in universities in Mexico or elsewhere and this is the only way for them to provide for them.”
SIRP members and other volunteers also offer lunches and workshops on topics like CPR training or computer skills.
“Conan” Manuel said he comes to the Center every day and signs up on a daily list to get temporary work in the neighboring community.
“Today there are two lists on the wall with 88 men on one list and 17 women on the other list,” he said in Spanish and English. “It depends who can do a good job and who has experience.”
When asked what he enjoys about the Center, Manuel said the community aspect was key.
“I like the family of friends,” he said. “We share the food from 11 to 11:30, and then have ESL classes for three hours. Meanwhile, you wait for work.”
Marroquín said she appreciates the Center’s relationship with SIRP.
“I’m very excited honestly about this,” Marroquín said. “It was sort of my dream to have youth involved with the Day Worker Center because I had an assumption that many people in this area really believed life is easy and take many things for granted.”
Marroquín believes that SIRP students offer a vital perspective in addition to English tutoring and skills training.
“English is important, but all the different experiences that the students bring are highly appreciated,” she said. “It’s very important to have the workers and students learn about their different cultures from each other.”
Jambulapati believes the Stanford community can learn from the Center amid prevailing misconceptions about immigration.
“The media often portrays immigrants as stealing our jobs or wanting economic gains for themselves, but the reality is that they have no options in most of their countries,” she said. “They want to provide for their families and the media doesn’t put a human face on them.”
Jambulapati and the other SIRP members are planning a number of events to raise awareness about immigrants’ rights issues this year. They have also worked with the Stanford Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) to assure that campus landscaping workers receive fair treatment.
SIRP member Justine Corella ’11 hopes to bring other student organizations to the Center.
“Although SIRP is a new group, I feel that it has great potential to raise awareness at Stanford in the future, especially through the outreaches to the Day Worker Center,” she said.
To foster discussion about immigration issues, SIRP hosted a screening of “Rabbit Proof Fence” about Australian border fences on Nov. 19.
“I encourage people to [watch it] because border issues are important to immigrant rights,” Jambulapati said. “The movie will open people’s eyes to seeing that fences are not the best solutions since people will risk everything, including their lives, to cross the border. Instead of militarization, we need more policy and humane solutions for the problem.”