IMMIGRANT WORKERS FREEDOM RIDE: A JOURNEY TOWARDS CIVIL RIGHTS

The story of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride of 2003 is one of the countless events in the struggle for civil rights and equality. Taking inspiration from the 1960s Freedom Riders of the American South during the Civil Rights Movement, hundreds of Undocumented Immigrants boarded buses nationwide to fight for their constitutional rights and a pathway towards citizenship. Along the journey to Washington, D.C., the activists told their stories of workplace harassment, deportation threats, and exploitation. Attracted by the mission for civil liberties, dozens of legal and community organizations joined the IWFR in their cross-country mission. The Undocumented Americans on the buses reminded the country that the working class is forgetting their own, and allowing them to be targeted by cruel and misguided immigration policies. In the fight for their rights, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride continued to kindle the flame for comprehensive immigration reform for future generations.