Northwest Arkansas residents rally in support of immigrant workers
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
About a hundred people gathered in Springdale Monday in support of immigrant workers, a group that rallygoers said have been the target of recent policies at the state and federal levels.
The event was organized by Venceremos, a worker-based organization with a mission to ensure the human rights of poultry workers. The organization, whose name is Spanish for 'we will overcome,' is led by executive director Magaly Licolli, who told the Advocate Friday that immigrants who were honored as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are now being demonized.
'Five years ago these workers were called essential workers, heroes, that without their jobs we wouldn't have food on the table, and now they are being attacked and being called criminals,' Licolli said.
President Donald Trump promised mass deportations on the campaign trail, and has followed through by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1789, supporting high-profile raids and revoking an extension of Temporary Protected Status for some immigrants, among other things.
Trump's policies have left immigrants living in fear as they're being treated as 'second-class citizens or no citizens at all,' Licolli said.
While the national rhetoric started by targeting immigrants who were criminals, Licolli said the discussion has devolved into labeling all immigrants as criminals regardless of their immigration status.
'We are seeing really that they are deporting anyone just because they are brown and being detained because they look brown until they prove they have the paperwork to stay in this country,' she said. 'It is not fair that they are treating everybody as equal as criminals and without recognizing that criminals, murderers, all of these criminals can be [anyone] — it doesn't matter the race.'
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers in Springdale on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers that made a stop outside Springdale City Hall on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Venceremos hosted a rally and march in support of immigrant workers that made a stop outside Springdale City Hall on March 31, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tied Arkansas immigration policy to Trump when she announced legislation two weeks ago to impose harsher penalties on undocumented migrants who commit crimes in the state.
'The Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act makes it clear: Arkansas will not tolerate violent, criminal illegals and will do our part to help the Trump administration keep our citizens safe,' Sanders said during a March 17 press conference.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 426 Monday morning, but an amendment in the afternoon means the bill will need to be reheard by the committee.
Licolli told reporters Monday that when Sanders says it's her job to protect citizens, she's only referring to the white community.
'We are also citizens, we are also humans,' Licolli said. 'And she's been enjoying the chicken that these immigrants are producing, so I wonder what she's going to do with her chicken if they are targeting the immigrants. She enjoys the benefits from the labor of these immigrants, so it's a hypocrisy and it's very racist that she is condemning all of these people for feeding her family.'
Springdale is home to Tyson Foods, one the world's largest food companies, and Licolli said poultry companies, like Tyson, should speak out for immigrants because they benefit from their labor. In addition to calling for better working conditions and for immigrants' humanity to be respected, Licolli said they also deserve a path to citizenship for all they've done to support the economy.
Protestors urge Arkansas' Tyson to commit to child labor, worker safety protections
Vladimir Rivera Lopez, District 4 Justice of the Peace for the Washington County Quorum Court, said he became really interested in workers rights after reading Life and Death of the American Worker, a book by Alice Driver that shares the challenges faced by immigrant workers at Tyson.
Rivera Lopez, a Springdale Democrat that won his first-ever election by 10 votes in November, said that he will attend 'any event that affirms the dignity of someone else in my community.'
'It's very easy to exploit people who can't vote, who don't have that opportunity to represent themselves come November, but that doesn't mean that these people don't exist,' he said.
Rivera Lopez joined dozens of Northwest Arkansas residents at Monday's rally, including Angela Hickman of Bella Vista, who decided to spend her day off marching to city hall dressed as Lady Liberty alongside her boyfriend and dog.
Hickman said she's taking every opportunity 'to show support and fight back' because there's a lot wrong with what's happening in the country.
'Letting our people that represent us know that we are not okay with what's going on,' she said. 'And Trump and [Elon] Musk need to not be where they are. They're doing a lot of damage, and I can't just sit idly by.'
Even when policies don't directly affect her, Hickman, who teared up during her explanation, said that one day 'it could be me.'
'I have children, they need a future, and I have to make that happen for them,' she said. 'My grandmother did it, my mom did it, my aunt, it's in the family all the way back to the Civil Rights Movement and everything in between. My grandmother can't be here to do it, she is no longer with us, so I'm doing it for her.'
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