Press Release

Washington, D.C. – On May 1, International Workers Day, the #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign joins immigrant and worker rights organizations, labor unions, and communities across the country in fighting for our collective rights, safety, and futures. Today, organizations and communities across the country are launching a national day of action with over 30 events to demand dignity, fair wages, and safety for every worker.  

International Workers Day is a day to honor the strength and resilience of workers everywhere. No matter where we come from, we all deserve to feel safe and to be able to support our families. However, in the past 100 days, working people across the country, including our immigrant neighbors and community members, have faced unprecedented attacks on their rights. Extreme politicians and their billionaire allies are stealing critical resources from our communities to fund cruel policies that harm all of us.  

This May Day, communities across the country are coming together to demand policies that protect and uplift ALL working people and working families, including immigrants and refugees. When we invest resources in our communities – in fair wages, education, healthcare – rather than in policies of punishment and exclusion, we can build a world where everyone can thrive.  

Visit the May Day website to learn more and join a local action. 

“The fight for workers’ rights and immigrants’ rights are inextricable,” said Hannah Flamm, Interim Senior Director of Policy at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “By recognizing that these struggles are intertwined, we can build a more welcoming and equitable world for all. This is more crucial than ever at a time when immigrant families and communities are under such relentless attack.”

“On May Day, we honor the hands that build, heal, feed, and sustain us—especially those of immigrants and refugees,” said Fatima Saidi, Director of We Are All America. “In a country built by immigrants, it is still immigrants and refugees who lead the fight—for labor rights, for justice, for belonging. Even as we face political and racial hostility, we continue to organize, mobilize, and transform America from the ground up. Our labor deserves dignity, and our voices demand justice.”

“The International Mayan League or ‘la casa del pueblo/the peoples’ home’ as some of our community members refer to us, represents the strength of Maya refugees, medicine women, human rights defenders, philosophers. We are grounded by our elders’ teachings of the power of our cultures, languages, and traditions – the ancestral knowledge that protected them from genocide and state sponsored violence in Iximulew (Guatemala). When our families are forced into exile or we migrate to Turtle Island via legal pathways, our mothers who sacrificed a law career or are medicine women in our homelands, must work multiple jobs to provide for their families while fighting for their children’s future. They are more than domestic workers, they are the epitome of dignity and resistance.” said Lorena Brady, Policy and Program Manager at the International Mayan League. “On May Day, we again call for the end of family separation, forced deportations and the killings of our loved ones. We remain relentless in our pursuit of justice for the rights of all peoples; human and civil rights we are entitled to regardless of where we come from. We must remain united in our fight against authoritarianism for our future generations, Mother Earth and humanity.” 

“This moment demands collective action and unwavering solidarity. On this International Workers Day, May 1st, the Central American Resource Center – CARECEN SF is proud to join the call for workers’ rights and a shared vision of justice,” said Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, Executive Director of CARECEN SF. “We celebrate the contributions of ALL workers and people who migrate to the social, economic, civic, and cultural fabric of cities and nations around the globe. We honor and thank the workers who keep our cities running and provide food for our tables. The labor of those who have immigrated generates hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, fuels the U.S. economy, and provides stability to their countries of origin. CARECEN SF will continue our work and programs to advance due process, expand access to universal legal representation, and lift the contributions of people who migrate”. 

“‘Mayday’ is a distress signal, and the crises we’re living through call on us to prove our commitment to our values and demand dignity, fair wages, and safety for every worker,” said Sergio Perez, Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. “Workers’ rights and immigrants’ rights are intricately linked. As always, our immigrant labor force is the most vulnerable – continuously on the frontlines of rebuilding our communities after disaster strikes, frequently at the lowest wages. Instead of cruelty, we should build a healthy, safe, and just society that cares for them and welcomes people seeking refuge in our communities. The time for solidarity is now, to not only preserve, but also secure both human rights and significant protections for all people in the United States, regardless of their immigration status.”

“On May Day, CGRS joins communities across the country in demanding policies that protect all working people, no matter where they come from,” said Karen Musalo, Director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). “We reject the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations, detention, and enforced disappearances, policies that have torn families apart and inflicted incalculable pain in our communities, while those in power profit off human suffering. Today we honor the contributions of our immigrant and refugee neighbors, and we urge our leaders to invest in policies that help everyone thrive.”

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The #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign for asylum rights is composed of more than 125 organizations committed to transforming the way the United States receives and protects people forced to flee their homes to ensure they are treated humanely and fairly. To learn more about what we stand for, visit us online: https://wwdignity.org/solutions; to request an interview with an experts from the #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign, visit us here: welcomewithdignity.org