The idea for the symbolic ride was developed in July 2001 by leaders of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. After decades of considering new arrivals as adversaries, many unions now seek to organize even illegal immigrants, whose lower pay and lack of worker protections threaten to reduce standards across the board.

If they are coming to your city, go out and cheer them--and listen to what they have to say. From the Freedom Ride website:

Just as the Freedom Rides of the early 1960’s exposed the brutality of legal segregation in the South, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride will expose the injustice of current policies toward immigrants.

Immigrant workers work hard, pay taxes, and sacrifice for their families. They work as construction workers, doctors, nurses, janitors, meat packers, chefs, busboys, engineers, farm workers, and soldiers. They care for our children, tend to our elderly, pick and serve our food, build and clean our houses, and want what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream.