Articles On U.S. Immigrant Rights Rallies:4-10-2006

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig11apr11,0,3783.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Protests Draw Thousands for Immigrant Rights: 5:59 PM PDT, April 10, 2006
By Michael Muskal and Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Legal and illegal, carrying signs in English and Spanish, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets Monday in the nation's capital and in dozens of cities around the country, spreading a sea of white T-shirts and American flags across city parks and TV screens in an effort to persuade lawmakers to grant foreign-born workers more rights.

Chanting "Si, se puede" — "Yes, we can" — and carrying signs declaring "We are America," marchers at the centerpiece rally on the National Mall in Washington said they hoped to send a message to Congress and the rest of the country that they want to be a part of the nation where they work.

"We came here to protest. They want to pass a law to treat immigrants like terrorists," said Gilberto Castro, 34, who came to the United States illegally in 1998 but now has a work permit and makes a living selling vitamins. "I would like other people to have the same opportunity, like amnesty, for other people to get their papers."

The rally in Washington, which organizers said topped 500,000 protesters, was one of dozens of pro-immigrant rallies in cities large and small nationwide.

In most places, American flags dominated the crowds, although a sprinkling of flags of other countries, including Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, was visible. Marchers wore white T-shirts, they said, as a sign of peace.

"We love this country," said Solomon Tekle, a 40-year-old from Ethiopia who said he had been denied asylum and now works illegally on construction jobs in Baltimore. He wore a T-shirt reading "Land of the Free."

"We work, work hard. We pay taxes," Tekle said. "We need help, not to kick us out."

The rallies were the culmination of a growing immigrant rights movement that began last month in response to legislation passed in December by the House of Representatives that would make it a felony to be in the United States without a valid visa or to aid anyone who was.

Some rallies in recent weeks appeared to backfire, with Republican lawmakers and others complaining that marchers carried more Mexican flags than American, suggesting that they did not want to integrate into U.S. society.

By contrast, organizers of Monday's demonstrations appeared to make special efforts — reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and discouraging marchers from carrying flags from other countries — to send the message that immigrants want to be Americans.

Diezir Quintanilla, 15, came to the Mall with her sister and parents, all wearing T-shirts she had made: a silk-screen image of the Pilgrims reading "Your ancestors — Immigrants, too."

"They have to give us our rights," she said, explaining that while she and her sister are citizens, her parents, from Peru, are not.

Among the marchers in Washington was Flor Villazoro, a 35-year-old house cleaner from El Salvador, who planned to work a double shift Tuesday so she could attend the rally.

"I'm here working for a good future for my baby," Villazoro said in slightly awkward English, carrying her 21-month-old daughter, Melanie, in her arms. Melanie wore a white T-shirt that read, "I'm not a criminal," and carried a small American flag.

"I'm legal. But if I try to help someone who has no papers, I'm a criminal," Villazoro said. "For years I was very quiet — only work and pay taxes. Now it's necessary to protest."

There were no official estimates of the crowd in Washington. Juan Carlos Ruiz, coordinator for the National Capital Immigration Coalition, said organizers believed that there may have been more than 500,000 demonstrators. He said organizers tried to count the numbers arriving on buses and exiting the subway and lost count at 400,000.

"The Mall is full from corner to corner," Ruiz said.

By comparison, a 1969 rally opposing the Vietnam war attracted about 600,000; about 250,000 attended the 1963 civil rights protest where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. The 2004 March for Women's Lives brought an estimated 750,000 people to the Mall.

The National Park Service stopped giving official estimates after a dispute over the number attending the Million Man March in 1995; the park service said that about 400,000 were present, while independent analyses using aerial photos and grids put the figure at more than 870,000.

Crowds at the immigration rallies in other cities appeared to be smaller than in Washington, with police reporting 50,000 each in Atlanta and Phoenix and 20,000 in New York:

.In Houston, up to 10,000 marchers wearing red, white and blue followed an Uncle Sam figure through downtown streets. Catalina Del Toro, 55, waved a sign that read, "Who would cook for you, clean for you? Do you want our job?" Del Toro, who works for a cleaning service, said she crossed into Texas illegally 31 years ago but became a U.S. citizen in 1992. She said she still has a daughter and son in Mexico.

"I clean everyone's house," she said. "Some people don't want to do that job. We work here and live and should be treated fair. But we're not. That isn't right."

.In Boston, an estimated 10,000 people marched from Boston Common to Barkley Square, about a half-mile away. At the behest of a consortium of Latino churches in the area, newly installed Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley delivered a prayer to the immigration protesters.

"It is only reasonable that the people who maintain our economy have a fair opportunity to become citizens," said Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo.

.In Atlanta, marchers wearing white T-shirts — many promoting Latino construction companies and businesses — gathered at Buford Highway, the main road where immigrants gather.

Samuel Rodriguez attended the march with colleagues from La Banderita tortilla factory after agreeing to work Sunday instead of Monday.

"We came here for opportunity and we work hard, but now we're being targeted," he said. "It's time for us to support each other."

Rodriguez, who moved to the United States from Mexico 14 years ago and works in the sales department of the tortilla factory, said the recent national demonstrations had motivated Georgia's Latinos to organize.

"Everyone is on the same page for the first time," he said. "It's great."

There were counterdemonstrations in some cities, including a handful of anti-immigrant protesters in Washington. Bearing a sign that read, "Keep walking, just 1,800 miles until you're home," Erin Carrington, 22, was one of a few on the National Mall. Carrington said she believed that the laws in place were effective enough and that Americans should support them.

"I think that when illegal immigrants come here and expect to have entitlements given to them just as U.S. citizens, that it's totally preposterous," she said. "There's plenty of ways to enter our country legally while respecting our laws, and people who do so end up better in the long run, anyway."

Congress is at a pivotal point in deciding whether and how to permit millions of illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship. The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, estimated last month that between 11.5 million and 12 million unauthorized migrants are in the United States.

Some proposals, including the bill passed by the House, would amount to a crackdown on illegal immigrants and those who employ them. The House measure would increase penalties on those who illegally crossed the border or overstayed visas to a felony.

Other proposals, including a Republican-drafted compromise now stalled in the Senate, would offer a path to legalization and eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants who have been in the country more than five years. More recent arrivals would have to leave the country, as least for a short period of time, to apply for legal status.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a leading proponent of granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, delivered the keynote address In Washington in a mixture of English and Spanish.

"Gracias por demandar justicia para todos los inmigrantes," Kennedy said in Massachusetts-accented Spanish, drawing cheers from the crowd. "Thank you for demanding justice for all immigrants."

Kennedy, a stalwart of the civil rights movement, said the mobilization of immigrants in recent weeks recalled the efforts of African Americans to gain equal rights in the 1960s.

"More than four decades ago, near this place, Martin Luther King called on the nation to let freedom ring. Freedom did ring — and freedom can ring again," Kennedy said. "It is time for Americans to lift their voices now — in pride for our immigrant past and in pride for our immigrant future."

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Johanna Neuman, Greg Miller and Matthew O'Rourke in Washington, Lianne Hart in Houston, Elizabeth Mehren in Boston and Jenny Jarvie and Richard Fausset in Atlanta.

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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0410march-ON.html

More than 100,000 rally at Capitol: Apr. 10, 2006 05:35 PM

Daniel González, Yvonne Wingett and Mel Melendez
The Arizona Republic

More than 100,000 people marched to the state Capitol Monday afternoon, capping a hours-long rally to support federal legislation that would allow many of the 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country become U.S. citizens.

The crowd, most of them wearing white T-shirts to symbolize their peaceful intentions and carrying U.S. flags, marched 2¼ miles from the Arizona State Fairgrounds to Wesley Bolin Plaza next to the state Senate and House buildings. Their intent: to keep pressure on the U.S. Congress to come up with immigration reform that allows for legalization, rather than punitive treatment, of those who have come into the United States illegally.

At the Capitol, a series of speakers that ranged from U.S. Reps. Raul Grijalva and Ed Pastor - the two lone Democrats among Arizona's congressional delegation - to recent immigrants, leaders of the Hispanic community and clergy people spoke of the historic assembly, one of the largest in Valley history. They told the crowd that they must build on the momentum to further the cause of Hispanics. advertisement

One speaker, identified as Tomas Chavez, said he's an immigrant from Mexico who proudly served for two years as a U.S. combat medic in Iraq for his "new country."

He urged the crowd to not be complacent, to vote or be otherwise politically active. "Don't let this just be a day of marching," Chavez said.

Two conservative Republican state lawmakers walked around the Capitol amid the throng of marchers with their own homemade signs. Glendale Rep. Jerry Weiers' sign read: "Border security isn't racism. It's smart." Just a few feet away, Rep. John Allen, who was approched by several demonstrators throughout the day, held a two-sided sign: "Washington: No amnesty. Enforce the law. Close the border." The other side read, "Governor, I will hold them off, you get the National Guard."

Allen, a Scottsdale Republican, told some of the marchers: "We have to close the border. Let's close it first and then talk about everything after that."

One in the crowd, Frank Little, challenged Allen. "Why aren't you picketing businesses?" To that Allen said, "We should be making sure businesses aren't hiring illegals. I agree with you. In fact, we probably agree on a lot of things."

The crowd began to disperse a little after 4 p.m., after a rally that began in earnest around 10 a.m. at the fairgrounds, where they first gathered. The throngs created havoc for traffic in the central and downtown Phoenix area; most of the smattering of businesses along the Grand Avenue portion of the march chose not to open Monday.

"I saw the parade up close and now I've seen it in the air, and I've never seen anything like it," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said.

Gordon stood at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Washington Street as the first wave of marchers turned on to Washington. The crowd erupted into cheers the mayor made his way to the front of the procession and shook hands with the leaders of the march.

Many in the crowd carried banners of the march's theme: Somos America: Hoy Marchamos Mañana Votamos, meaning We are America: Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote.

A good number of them were undocumented immigrants, among them 20-year-old Martin Rios, who came from Mexico seven months ago.

"In my country I had no opportunities, that's why I'm here. That's why many of us are here,'' said Rios, holding a big American flag. "We're here to work and we work hard, which benefits all of us. We're an important part of America."

At least 120 cities from Los Angeles to New York are participating in the National Day of Action, which include student walkouts, rallies, demonstrations and candle light vigils.

The waving of U.S. flags is a marked difference from an earlier march last month in which some walked with Mexican flags, drawing criticism that the expression was unpatriotic and anti-American.

Groups of men and women chanted. "Viva Mexico" and "necesitamos papeles" or "we need immigration papers.""We're doing this for our rights, we need respect,'' said Mexican native Maria Concha Rodriguez as she stopped on the corner of Grand Avenue and Roosevelt. She now lives in North Phoenix and said she's undocumented. "We're not criminals. Together we get more attention."

Although the vast majority of the crowd was Latino, including undocumented immigants, legal residents, there were also some non Latino supporters.

Heather Fisher, 39, of Chandler, said she took her took two children, Grant, 10, Ryan, 9, out of school so they could experience the historic moment and to get a feeling of what its like to be a minority. She supports undocumented immigrants to acheive legal status. "We need them as much as they need us," Fisher said.

Phoenix resident Shane Lee, 30, who operates his own landscaping business and estimates that more than half his workers are undocumented, showed up at the rally to honor a group that he called some of the hardest working employees he ever had.

“That’s the thing. They are such great workers that you can’t help felt a little angry over bills that want to criminalize them,” Lee said. “Illegal or not they’ve earned the right to be here.’’

Two Mesa residents advocating for stricter immigration reform attended Monday’s rally, holding “No amnesty” and close the border now’’ signs.

“We have no problem with immigration as long as is legal, so we thought we exercise our rights as Americans to protest,” said Steve Campbell, 47-year-old retiree. The two stood behind a line of 6 Phoenix police officers that separated them from the streams of demonstrators walking down 3rd Ave., toward the state Capitol.

Some of the marchers booed at them while other kissed the American flag to stress a point. “So far everyone has been pretty much respectful so I’m glad we came,’’ said Campbell.

The demonstration, in support of comprehensive immigration reform, passed near buildings where thousands of state employees work, as well as city, municipal and federal court buildings, but away from the heart of downtown.

Lopez and her employees handed out bottled water and passed nutrition bars from a truck parked inside her garage.

"They are my people, so I decided to show support by handing this out,'' Lopez said. "It doesn't matter that we're closed for business. This is more important.''

Monday's march comes just two weeks after a March 24 protest drew 20,000 supporters and paralyzed 24th Street and parts of the city's east side, surprising organizers and catching city officials off guard. That march was to protest a bill passed by the House in December that would have reclassified undocumented immigrants as felons, and made people who assist them vulnerable to prosecution.

The national demonstrations, which began early last month in Chicago with at least 100,000 people, have galvanized hundreds of thousands of immigrant and U.S.-born Latinos to a level not seen since the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when Hispanics protested political and educational systems they believed to be unjust.

Voter registration groups in Phoenix and other cities hope to leverage that enthusiasm by signing up new voters, and encouraging eligible immigrants to become citizens.

Latinos historically have had low turnout during elections, and immigrants from Mexico have typically lagged behind other immigrant groups in becoming citizens, further diminishing their political clout. Nineteen percent of the nation's 40 million Latinos voted in the 2004 Presidential election, according to data compiled from the U.S. Census by the Thomas Rivera Policy Institute, a research center based at the University of Southern California.

Of the 40 million Latinos in the U.S., 16 million are U.S. citizens, but nearly 6.8 million of them were not registered to vote in 2004. Another 1.7 million registered voters did not cast ballots, according to the institute.

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http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060410/NEWS/604100315

Protesters march toward plaza Downtown: Monday, April 10, 2006
Times staff, wire reports

El Paso, Texas: Thousands of El Pasoans joined a nationwide wave of demonstrations against proposed immigration legislation and marched toward the San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso.

Groups were marching from the Chamizal, UTEP and Sunland Park to demand that Congress clear the way for undocumented immigrants to be given legal status in the United States.

About 300 people marched along a border highway from City Hall in Sunland Park toward Downtown El Paso.

They, like others in rallies around the country, chanted, “Si, se puede,” or “Yes we can.”

And unlike earlier immigration rallies, the demonstrators waved mostly American flags, hoping to undo some negative publicity for promoting the Mexican flag at earlier events.

“It’s an American issue,” said Frank Lopez, 44, marching in El Paso. “People ... have really distorted that, but we represent peace and solidarity with immigrants.”

Third-generation American Angie Torres, 37, held a sign that read in Spanish, “Today we march, tomorrow we vote.”

The march was led by Sunland Park Mayor Ruben Segura and Texas state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh.

Many of the marchers wore matching T-shirts emblazoned with the words “We are not criminals, We are part of the solution.”

“I want freedom for everybody in this country,” said 17-year-old Selena Ibaare, a Santa Teresa High School junior. “It’s not fair what the government is trying to do.”

Another student, 12-year-old Jose Garranza, said in Spanish “we want peace and legalization.”

The marchers clogged traffic for about an hour along a main artery from Sunland Park to Interstate 10 and Downtown El Paso, with escort assistance from the city of El Paso.

Rally organizers in El Paso said earlier that they didn't want a repeat of last week's student walkouts.

"Our message is very clear: we want kids to go to school," Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said. "We are not calling for walkouts. That's one of the reasons we are having it later in the day."

El Paso's rally, organized by the Border Network for Human Rights, was to be at 4 p.m. at San Jacinto Plaza.

Sunday, a crowd of as many as 500,000 marched in Dallas while demonstrations also unfolded in New Mexico, Minnesota, Alabama and California.

And thousands more staged protests across Texas and the rest of the United States today.

Both the Ysleta and El Paso school districts last week discussed the planned San Jacinto Plaza rally with principals to take security precautions and encourage students to remain in class, district officials said.

Two weeks ago, more than 5,000 students across the county walked out of class to demand better treatment for immigrants.

"There are many productive ways our students can learn more about these issues in the classroom and our teachers are there to guide them," EPISD Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia said in a statement via a spokeswoman.

El Paso Police Chief Richard Wiles said his department would once again be on alert with a Special Operations Center in service.

Though an e-mail has circulated asking people to participate in the nationwide rally by avoiding school, missing work and refraining from shopping, local immigrant advocates said a peaceful presence was all they asked from those attending today's demonstration.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/sns-ap-immigration-protests,1,5642468.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Huge Crowds March for Immigration Rights: April 11, 2006, 1:03 AM CDT
By DEEPTI HAJELA / Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of thousands of people demanding U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants took to the streets in dozens of cities from New York to San Diego on Monday in some of the most widespread demonstrations since the mass protests began around the country last month.

Rallies took place in communities of all sizes, from a gathering of at least 50,000 people in Atlanta to one involving 3,000 people in the farming town of Garden City, Kan., which has fewer than 30,000 residents.

Demonstrators in New York City held signs with slogans such as "We Are America," "Immigrant Values are Family Values," and "Legalize Don't Criminalize." One sign said: "Bush Step Down."

"We love this country. This country gives to us everything," said Florentino Cruz, 32, an illegal worker from Mexico who has been in the United States since 1992. "This country was made by immigrants."

The protesters have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States. A bill passed by the House would crack down on illegal immigrants and strengthen the nation's border with Mexico. A broader overhaul of immigration law stalled in the Senate last week.

Monday's demonstrations followed a weekend of rallies in 10 states that drew up to 500,000 people in Dallas and tens of thousands elsewhere. Dozens of other rallies, many organized by Spanish-language radio DJ's, have been held nationwide over the past two weeks, including one with more than 500,000 people in Los Angeles.

In the nation's capital, thousands of immigrants, their families and supporters marched Monday from Hispanic neighborhoods past the White House, then converged on the National Mall.

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered outside lawmakers' offices. At the Mississippi Capitol, they sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish.

In Atlanta, many in white T-shirts, waving American flags, joined a two-mile march from a largely immigrant neighborhood.

The Rev. James Orange from the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda compared the march to civil rights demonstrations led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and farm-labor organizer Cesar Chavez.

"People of the world, we have come to say this is our moment," Orange said.

In New Jersey -- with the Statute of Liberty in the background -- several hundred people listened to speeches in Spanish and waved U.S., Colombian and Mexican flags.

Thick crowds gathered in New York's Washington Square Park before marching to City Hall. Many waved flags, both American and of countries of their origin. Korean-Americans beat drums nearby. Another group marched from Chinatown, and a third demonstration took place in Brooklyn.

Police declined to estimate the size of the crowds, but organizers said 125,000 people were present at City Hall.

One of the Korean drummers, Grace Nam, 35, who is an American citizen, said: "We just need to make our voices heard. You want to live in a place where people are treated with dignity."

Peter Lanteri, director of New York's chapter of the Minutemen, a volunteer border watch group, said he thought it was "ridiculous" that illegal immigrants were protesting for their rights.

"Illegal is illegal, and they break our laws to come here," Lanteri said by telephone. "We want the illegal immigration stopped and the borders secured."

Supporters in San Diego held a ceremony to honor immigrants who died while illegally crossing the border.

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony led thousands of protesters in prayer outside a downtown church, calling on Congress to hear their pleas, before the crowd began an evening march. Police estimated the crowd at 7,000.

Thousands of other protesters also gathered in Fresno, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento.

In Phoenix, police and organizers estimated that about 100,000 people marched from the state fairgrounds to the Capitol for a rally. Exit ramps were closed and traffic on freeways through downtown was backed up for miles. At one point, the crowd stretched more than two miles.

In Houston, event organizers estimated that 50,000 people gathered at a park in a largely Hispanic area of town as they rallied to march toward the spot where the city's founders first arrived.

More than 2,500 protesters gathered in a Homestead, Fla., park, where organizers displayed baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables as a reminder that much of the country's harvest is picked by illegal immigrants.

Maria Santiago, 53, an outreach coordinator for nonprofit health clinic in Harrisburg, Pa., said she sees many illegal immigrants seeking access to health care.

"These are people that are willing to take any job, clean bathrooms, scrub floors for a measly penny so that they have an opportunity to live in this country ... and yet we want to send them back because they want a better life?" Santiago said.
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On the Net: http://www.april10.org

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/us/11immig.html?hp&ex=1144814400&en=8545caf92ae2ba64&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Immigrants Rally in Scores of Cities for Legal Status: Published: April 11, 2006
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

Pix> The archbishop of Washington, Theodore E. McCarrick, addressing demonstrators at an immigration rally Monday in Washington. More Photos >

WASHINGTON, April 10 — Waving American flags and blue banners that read "We Are America," throngs of cheering, chanting immigrants and their supporters converged on the nation's capital and in scores of other cities on Monday calling on Congress to offer legal status and citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants.

Multimedia:
Video: Rachel L. Swarns
Video: New York Immigration Protest
Photos: Immigration Advocates Rally Around U.S.

Related: Farmworkers' Union Is Set to Announce First National Contract for Guest Workers (April 11, 2006)

In New York, Eclectic Crowd Joins a Call for the Rights of Immigrants (April 11, 2006)
Across the U.S., Growing Rallies for Immigration (April 10, 2006)The demonstrators marched under mostly clear blue skies with Spanish-language music blaring, street vendors selling ice cream and parents clinging to mischievous toddlers and the banners of their homelands.

The rallies, whose mood was largely festive rather than angry, were the latest in recent weeks in response to a bill passed in the House that would speed up deportations, tighten border security and criminalize illegal immigrants. A proposal that would have given most illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens collapsed in the Senate last week.

But Monday's gathering of tens of thousands of demonstrators in New York; Atlanta; Houston; Madison, Wis., and other cities also suggested that the millions of immigrants who have quietly poured into this country over the past 16 years, most of them Hispanic, may be emerging as a potent political force.

Over and over again, construction workers, cooks, gardeners, sales associates and students who said they had never demonstrated before said they were rallying to send a message to the nation's lawmakers.

Ruben Arita, a 30-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who joined the demonstration in Washington, said he was marching for the first time because he wanted to push Congress to grant citizenship to people living here illegally and to recognize their struggles and their humanity.

"We want to be legal," said Mr. Arita, a construction worker who has lived here for five years. "We want to live without hiding, without fear. We have to speak so that our voices are listened to and we are taken into account."

Academics and political analysts say the demonstrations represent the largest effort by immigrants to influence public policy in recent memory. And the scope and size of the marches have astonished politicians on Capitol Hill as well as the churches and immigrant advocacy groups organizing the demonstrations, leading some immigrant advocates to hail what they describe as the beginnings of a new, largely Hispanic civil rights movement.

Some Republicans in Congress say the rallieshave also recalibrated the debate on immigration legislation, forcing lawmakers to consider the group's political muscle.

"Immigrants are coming together in a way that we have never seen before, and it's going to keep going," said Jaime Contreras, the president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, a group of business, labor and immigrant advocacy groups that organized the demonstration in Washington and helped coordinate the other national protests.

"This is a movement," said Mr. Contreras, who came to the United States from El Salvador as an illegal immigrant and is now a citizen. "We're sending a strong message that we are people of dignity. All that we want is to have a shot at the American dream."

Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, who favors granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, said Monday: "I think everybody sees the immigrant community as an emerging force. I think everybody is quite sensitive that they don't want to be on the wrong side, politically, of this group."

But political analysts say it is not clear whether the fervor on the streets will translate immediately into a force at the ballot box.

In the 2004 presidential election, 18 percent of Hispanics voted, compared with 51 percent of whites and 39 percent of blacks, according to a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. That reflects, in part, the large numbers of illegal immigrants, permanent residents and children under 18 in the Hispanic community who are unable to vote. But turnout has traditionally been low even among Hispanics registered to vote.

President Bush has called on Congress to create a temporary work program that would legalize millions of immigrants.

The demonstrations, while cheered by advocates for immigrants, have meanwhile fueled a sharp response from critics who have expressed outrage at the images of immigrants, some of them illegal, demanding changes in American laws.

Talk of the marches has been burning up the airwaves on talk radio and cable news networks and has appeared in Internet blogs and conservative publications. Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, described the protests with marchers carrying foreign flags as "ominous" in "their hint of a large, unassimilated population existing outside America's laws and exhibiting absolutely no sheepishness about it."

Brit Hume, the news anchor on Fox News, described the marchers, particularly those carrying Mexican flags, as "a repellent spectacle."

But Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, warned that politicians who chose to alienate this group did so at their own peril.

"I understand clearly that the demographic changes are real in America and how we handle this issue in terms of fairness will be very important for the future of both parties," Mr. Graham said Monday. "Those who believe that they have no political vulnerability for the moment don't understand the future."

The organizers of the protests called Monday a National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice, and the focus was on pushing for legislation that would legalize the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants believed to be living in the United States. And in Atlanta, where the police estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 people participated in the rallies, some marchers invoked the tactics and slogans of the civil rights era. Fabian Rodriguez, a 38-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, said he was tired of living in fear of being deported.

"We are in the situation that Rosa Parks was in several years ago," said Mr. Rodriguez, who works in the landscaping business. "Enough is enough."

In Houston, where thousands of immigrants chanted "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" as they rallied, Staff Sgt. Jose Soto of the Marines marched in his blue uniform. He said he had fought in Iraq and was in Houston to visit his parents, who came to this country as illegal immigrants.

"I've fought for freedom overseas," said Sergeant Soto, 30, who plans to return to Iraq in July. "Now I'm fighting for freedom here."

In Madison, the crowds of demonstrators stretched nearly a mile as protesters headed to the Capitol. Maria Camacho, a 51-year-old Mexican immigrant, attended the march with her husband and daughter. Wearing a white sweater with an American flag, she held up a sign that read, "No human being is illegal."

No rally was more diverse than New York's, where the thousands who converged at City Hall Park were greeted in Spanish, Chinese, French and Korean, and heard invocations by a rabbi and the leader of a Buddhist temple.

"We are inseparable, indivisible and impossible to take out of America," Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, told a spirited crowd that included hotel housekeepers from El Salvador, Senegalese street vendors, Chinese restaurant workers and Mexican laborers.

In Washington, demonstrators carried children on their shoulders, ate popcorn and draped themselves in the banners of their homelands as they cheered Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who told them that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had spoken here in 1963, and a host of other speakers, including John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington.

Across the street from the rally, about half a dozen people held signs that read, "Illegals Go Home."

But the small counterprotest failed to douse the spirits of the demonstrators, many of whom seemed almost giddy with their newfound sense of political power.

"Today we march," they chanted. "Tomorrow we vote!"
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Reporting for this article was contributed by Helena Andrews in Washington, Chris Burbach in Omaha, Cindy Chang in Los Angeles, Thayer Evans in Houston, Paul Giblin in Phoenix, Brenda Goodman in Atlanta, Barbara Miner in Madison, Wis., Gretchen Ruethling in Chicago and Nina Siegal in New York.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3782888.html

Houston & Texas
THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE
RALLY FLOODS DALLAS STREETS: April 10, 2006, 1:44PM

Police estimate between 350,000 and 500,000 were in peaceful crowd

By THOMAS KOROSEC and CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

DALLAS - As many as a half million immigrants and their supporters spilled into the streets of downtown Dallas on Sunday, streaming through a canyon of glimmering skyscrapers in what one activist described as the largest civil rights march in the city's history.

The massive protest, one of more than a dozen occurring nationwide, was a prelude to at least 70 demonstrations expected to take place today in Houston, Los Angeles, New York and other cities.

The protesters are urging federal lawmakers to reform the nation's immigration laws and allow an estimated 11 million undocumented workers to become legal residents. They began demonstrating in scattered cities in March in protest of a proposal passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would make being in the United States without proper documentation a federal crime.

"The people who are here are working hard. They're not criminals," said Hector Flores, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens

"They're being good citizens without the right to citizenship," said Flores, who joined the throng of marchers in Dallas.

Dallas police estimated that between 350,000 and 500,000 people took part in the demonstration, which officers described as peaceful.

About a dozen anti-illegal-immigration protesters gathered at one corner yelled "Go back to Mexico!" at the marchers and carried signs reading "Secure our Borders."

No arrests or incidents were reported late Sunday, police said.

"It's been a good day for the city," Dallas police Chief David Kunkle said. "This is a family-oriented group that's come here to demonstrate. No one we saw looked like they were planning to cause any problems."

Some of those at the march pushed strollers or ice cream carts. Others beat on drums and shouted "Si Se Puede" — Spanish, essentially, for "Yes, we can."

"This is the largest civil rights march in the history of Dallas," said former Texas Rep. Domingo Garcia, who helped organize the event. "We're making history."


Reaction in Houston

In Houston, meanwhile, immigrant advocates were wondering what the huge turnout in Dallas meant for them.

Karla Aguilar, a staffer at the Central American Resource Center, said she was encouraged by the Dallas event.

"It fills my heart with hope and I pray that the actions in Houston will be as peaceful and positive as the ones in Dallas were," said Aguilar, an organizer with the April 10 Coalition, which has been promoting the event.

Julita Rincon, president of the University of Houston's Young Immigrants for a Better Future, heard about the Dallas turnout via text message.

"It's pretty amazing," said Rincon, who considers Dallas to be "a very dormant city."

"Bringing out 500,000 people, it says a lot," said Rincon, whose group is using text messages and the social Web site MySpace to spread the word about today's events in Houston.

Students, housewives, day laborers and union organizers planned to take part in the Houston protests and were streaming in from Galveston, Angleton, Baytown and other cities, said Angela Mejia, an organizer with the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

"They're coming in from all over," Mejia said. "They want to be part of history. They want to be able to say, 'I fought for this because it was the right thing to do.' "

The Houston march will start at Guadalupe Plaza — next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on Navigation — at 1 p.m. and will end at Allen's Landing at the corner of Commerce and Main about 3:30 p.m. Because individuals will be walking back to their parked vehicles around Guadalupe Plaza, a candlelight vigil is planned upon return to Guadalupe Plaza Park at 6:30 p.m.

The Houston march, rally and evening vigil are being planned by the April 10 Coalition, a loose network of immigrant and civil rights activists, church leaders, students and labor unions.

In addition, Lee High School is having a student-led protest at 4 p.m., and University of St. Thomas students are holding a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. on the Student Life Mall at 3800 Montrose.

Call for reform

In Dallas, marchers reiterated the call for immigration reform.

Maria Teresa Ocampo, 64, rode a powered wheelchair and carried a sign urging amnesty for undocumented workers. "I was a teacher for 31 years and I taught English to many people. They're trying to make that illegal," she said, referring to provisions in a House-passed bill that would make it a crime to aid people in the country illegally.

Marco Hernandez, 41, a musician who became a legal resident after he received amnesty in 1987, said, "It is not right to come across illegally. But when you see the poor people in Mexico, they have to find a way out. "

Some protesters wore shirts that said ''No HR 4437,'' referring to the House bill passed in December that would build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, make criminals of people who help undocumented immigrants and make illegal immigration a felony.

Several prominent black leaders, including Texas Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, as well as Bishop Charles V. Grahmann, leader of the Dallas Catholic diocese, marched in solidarity.

"So many of you have made the journey for a cause and the cause is justice and the legalization of the great number of our people who are here illegally," Grahmann told a crowd at City Hall. He said he wants "all the people to become a part of the American dream."

A similar march was held Sunday in Fort Worth.

Other demonstrations drew thousands of protesters in New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama, Utah, Oregon and California.

Korosec reported from Dallas, and Garza from Houston.
thomas.korosec@chron.com , cynthia.garza@chron.com

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http://www.sacbee.com/content/breakingnews/story/14241473p-15060952c.html

Immigration reform advocates rally: 2:45 pm PDT Monday, April 10, 2006
Associated Press

Nearly 1,000 people gathered outside the state Capitol, while about 300 rallied at a downtown Sacramento park demanding reforms to legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Chris Corona took a day off from an auto parts supplier to join one of two rallies in Sacramento.

"I have to support these guys who work hard for their living. They have a right to live here," said Corona, 27, who was born in California after his parents immigrated illegally from Mexico. "I want to let the politicians know these people are not criminals"

A mix of U.S. and Mexican flags dotted the crowd gathered at the park. Participants, nearly all of them Hispanic, listened to addresses in Spanish and watched traditional Mexican dancers.

"Everybody that’s in this country are immigrants, and we are being accused of being the problem," said Fidel Ramos Jr., 51, a custodian for the city of Sacramento. "This march will demonstrate that we are united, and we carry the U.S. flag happily along with the Mexican flag."

The Sacramento protests were among several across the state Monday. In Oakland, more than 2,000 people waving American flags marched downtown.

"We are united. We are not going anywhere," protesters chanted as they marched nearly nine miles to the federal building.

"A lot of us here broke the law to get here," said Umberto Rosas, 36, as he carried his 1-year-old daughter, Sandy, on his shoulders. "That doesn’t mean we don’t love America."

Activists say the Senate’s decision last week not to push through a bill that would have given many illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship is neither a cause for celebration nor a lost opportunity - it’s a chance to regroup.

Protests were planned in dozens of cities nationwide and 20 events were scheduled in California, ranging from a rally in Bakersfield to a ceremony in San Diego dedicated to immigrants who’ve died while illegally crossing the border.

In Fresno, about 1,000 predominantly Hispanic protesters marched along the city’s sidewalks from a Catholic Church to City Hall. Many wore white shirts to symbolize peace and waved American and Mexican flags.

"The concept that undocumented workers cause this country more harm than good is ridiculous," said Vincent Lavery, 70, of Fresno.

An immigrant from Ireland, Lavery carried his homeland’s flag along with a U.S. flag to symbolize this isn’t just a Hispanic issue, but a human rights issue, he said.

Religious groups have been coordinating protests in recent weeks, with dozens of unions, schools and civil rights organizations.

Many groups had been preparing to rally since December, when the House passed a bill to build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants and make it a felony to be in the country illegally. It is now a civil violation.

Local and regional protests, supported by popular Spanish-language disc jockeys, quickly merged into national plans after hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in dozens of cities last month, culminating March 25 with a 500,000-strong rally in Los Angeles.

Organizers say the national strategy that has evolved from the protests will let them keep pressuring lawmakers, though legislation offering eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants staggered Friday when Senate Republicans and Democrats couldn’t agree to a final vote.

Groups are united around the need to demonstrate, but also have their own agendas, especially proposals to create a large, regulated guest worker program. Unions say that would hurt organizing efforts and bring down wages, while civil rights groups say making it easier for immigrants to get U.S. work permits will sharply reduce illegal immigration.

What organizers agree on is the need to convert energy from protests into massive voter registration drives.

Voter registration and citizenship education initiatives are set to begin in several states after a "Day Without An Immigrant" campaign planned for May 1, an event which asks immigrants nationwide to stay home from work and school, and refrain from buying American products.

"Marches will only get you so far," said Armando Navarro, coordinator of the National Alliance for Human Rights, an umbrella organization for Hispanic activist groups in Southern California. "There has to be an electoral component to get the Republicans out of the majority."

Comment: This BEE Reporter grossly undercounts the people who were there today. He needs a calculator or a better lying coach. The estimate is way below the actual numbers I saw with my own eyes and camera. ~Peta de Aztlan

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/immigration_protests;_ylt=AsZLYu3eJB1fC9JHV92XRLqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Immigration Advocates Rally Around U.S. : April 10, 2006 AM
By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - Tens of thousands of immigrants spilled into the streets of Atlanta and other cities Monday in a national day of action billed as a "campaign for immigrants' dignity."

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered at lawmakers' offices to make their voices heard as Congress considers immigration reforms.

"We all know pay is not the same everywhere and lot of people won't work for the minimum here, so if they won't take the job, what's the problem?" said 47-year-old Jose Salazar, who joined about 100 people outside Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record)'s Pittsburgh office.

In Atlanta, police estimated at least 50,000 people, many in white T-shirts and waving signs and American flags, joined a two-mile march from a largely immigrant neighborhood.

The Georgia protesters had two targets: the congress members weighing immigration reform and state legislation now awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature that would require adults seeking many state-administered benefits to prove they are in the U.S. legally.

Nineth Castillo, a 26-year-old waitress from Guatemala who joined the Atlanta march, said she has lived in the United States for 11 years "without a scrap of paper."

Asked whether she was afraid to parade her undocumented status in front of a massive police presence, she laughed and said: "Why? They kick us out, we're coming back tomorrow."

Elsa Rodriguez, 25, talked about the baby girl she expected to give birth to in about three months.

"This is why I had to be here," she said. "She's going to be a U.S. citizen and I'm here illegal?"

Hundreds of Latinos in North Carolina prepared to skip work or boycott all purchases on Monday to demonstrate the financial impact of the Latino community on area businesses. In Charlotte, some employees planned to skip work, including some with the blessing of their Latino bosses.

"We're hoping that employers stop to consider what this is all about," organizer Adriana Galvez said. "That if you need people here to do the work, to buy, then give them a legal channel to get here."

In Dallas, where a march Sunday drew between 350,000 and 500,000 people, activists also were urging immigrants to showcase their spending power by not buying anything during an economic boycott. Rallies also were planned Monday in Houston, El Paso and Austin.

Several thousand people gathered in Philadelphia, including Inocente Gonzalez, 19, an illegal immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, who is living and attending high school in Vineland N.J. and wants to become a doctor.

"I want to stay here to continue with my studies," said Gonzalez, who was wearing a sombrero and a Mexican flag. "We have a voice. We have to stay here because this country needs us."

An estimated 3,000 people demonstrated in Garden City, Kan., a farming community in the southwest corner of the state that counts fewer than 30,000 residents.

Several hundred turned out in South Bend, Ind., and in Lexington, Ky., where they waved signs that read: "We were all immigrants once," and "We are not terrorists."

The demonstrations followed a day of rallies in 10 states, including up to 500,000 people in Dallas, 50,000 in San Diego, and 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Dozens of rallies and student walkouts, many of them organized by spanish-language radio DJ's over the past few weeks, have been held in cities around the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York.

With an overhaul of immigration law stalled in Congress, the demonstrators have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States.

The rallies have also drawn counter-demonstrations.

In Salt Lake City, Jerry Owens, 59, a Navy veteran from Midway wearing a blue Minuteman T-shirt and camouflage pants, held a yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

"I think it's real sad because these people are really saying it's OK to be illegal aliens," Owens said. "What Americans are saying is 'Yes, come here. But come here legally.' And I think that's the big problem."
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Associated Press writers Michael Cowden in Pittsburgh, Jeff McMurray in Lexington, Ky., and Anabelle Garay in Dallas contributed to this report.
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On the Net: http://www.april10.org

Fair Immigration Reform Movement
www.fairimmigration.org

Email: firm@communitychange.org
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