Brandeis students participated in a day of support for immigrants Monday as part of May Day: A Day of Learning and Activism. The series of campus events that coincided with nationwide protests in which immigrants and their supporters boycotted work and school to bring attention to the plight of all those who enter the country, regardless of legal status. About 75 students traveled to a rally at Harvard Square in Cambridge. Attendees included both students and custodial staff from 10 different schools, according to Josh Russell '06, a member of the Radical Student Alliance. The walkout was organized by many groups, including the Harvard May Day Coalition, and was endorsed by the Massachusetts

Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, an umbrella organization in Boston.

"It was exhilarating to be in solidarity with so many different people," Russell said. "It was very connecting. The American experience is an immigrant experience, so it's an issue that resonates with everybody."

The rally, like many of the day's events nationwide, was held in response to the debate on H.R. 4437, a bill which, if passed, would make it a felony to live in the country without legal authorization and would strengthen border control.

Russell said he strongly disagrees with the principle of the bill.

"It's pretty much outright fascism the way the bill is set up," he said. The rallies, he said, are valuable because they help set the terms of the debate and bring another perspective, often shut out by mainstream media.

Overall, Russell said he was pleased with the rally.

"It was beautiful," he said. "It really re-affirmed a lot of my faith in people. There's so much love. People who you didn't even know would come and embrace you."

On campus, students, faculty and staff watched the films Walk-Out and A Day Without a Mexican and discussed relevant immigration issues.

Brandeis also hosted a five-person panel in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium addressing the issue of immigration in America. The panelists were David Elwell, director of the international students and scholars office at Brandeis; Leigh Swigart, associate director of the Brandeis International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life; Monique Kornfeld, a Boston attorney specializing in immigration law; Westy Egmont, former director of the International Institute of Boston; and Richard Iandoli, the managing attorney of an immigration law practice in Boston.

Egmont opened the discussion by saying "America's immigration system is a mess," and that the Bush Administration does not have an effective solution to the problem. He said H.R. 4437 represents "the oppression of a government gone crazy," and that since "we are already the most imprisoned population on the planet," the bill is an ineffective solution to the problem.

At this "critical juncture in our thinking in America," Egmont said that four issues must be addressed regarding immigration: border security, how to process illegal immigrants, dealing with the future labor supply and reunifying the families of immigrants.

Swigart addressed the problem of immigration from a different perspective; her work as an anthropologist in Sudan for several years gave her a unique view on immigration.

"[Sudan] gave me a lot of insight as to why people make such terrible sacrifices to come to the United States," she said.

Swigart said the reason immigrants are willing to endure such hardships in America is to support their families. In Sudan, she said, most people have few skills and few job opportunities, but in America they have a chance to succeed. She told the story of a 60-year-old Sudanese woman working as a maid for a family in the suburbs around Washington who earns below minimum wage and has never been into the city.

"She's not being mistreated, but she's trapped," Swigart said.

This woman continues to work, Swigard said, because she is supporting at least 20 of her family members back in Sudan. Swigart said that lawmakers in the United States fail to consider immigrants like this woman, instead focusing on the potential for criminals to enter America.

"The one thing missing from the immigration discussion is there is a lack of empathy for the conditions people are living in [in their native countries]," she said.

The Brandeis events were sponsored by the Radical Student Alliance, AHORA!, the Activist Resource Center, Brandeis Labor Coalition, Democracy for America, the Women of Color Alliance, the Intercultural Center, the Fair Trade Brigade, Posse Plus and Assistant Dean of Student Life in Support of Diversity Jamele Adams.