Hundreds of thousands rally in LA for immigrants' rights
Peter Prengaman
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Angered by what they see as increasing hostility toward immigrants, hundreds of thousands of people converged on City Hall Saturday to demand amnesty for illegal aliens and reject federal legislation that would build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Protesters, wearing white T-shirts to symbolize peace, danced, chanted and carried large banners as they filled dozens of streets in downtown.
They chanted "Mexico!" "USA!" and "Si se puede," an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means "Yes, we can."
Many protesters said lawmakers were unfairly targeting immigrants who provide a major labor pool for America's economy.
"Enough is enough of the xenophobic movement," said Norman Martinez, 63, who immigrated from Honduras as a child. "They are picking on the weakest link in society, which has build this country."
The rally came on the heels of other mass gatherings around the country, and in one of America's most racially diverse cities. Roughly half the people in Los Angeles County are of Hispanic origin.
The rally was organized by unions, religious organizations and immigrant rights groups, with disc jockeys on top radio Spanish-language radio stations calling on listeners to attend. Crowd estimates varied widely through the afternoon as protesters came and went and dozens of streets were closed down.
Police Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr., incident commander for the Los Angeles rally, said aerial helicopter snapshots and other crowd estimation techniques placed the estimated number of demonstrators at more than 500,000.
"I've been on the force 38 years and I've never seen a rally this big," Gray said. There were no arrests or reports of property damage, Gray said.
It was the largest of a series of school walkouts and work stoppages that were held Friday and Saturday around the country. In Sacramento, more than 4,000 people protested immigration legislation at an annual march Saturday honoring the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. The rallies were expected to culminate in a "National Day of Action" on April 10.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and erect more fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. The Senate was to begin debating immigration proposals this week, including guest worker plans to legalize the estimated 10 million to 12 million undocumented living in the country.
The Roman Catholic Church and other religious communities have launched immigrant rights campaigns, and Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has promised to instruct his priests to defy provisions in the House bill that would make it a crime to aid undocumented immigrants.
Several cities in Southern California, including Los Angeles, have passed symbolic resolutions against the House legislation.
President Bush on Saturday called for legislation that does not force America to choose between being a welcoming society and a lawful one.
"America is a nation of immigrants, and we're also a nation of laws," Bush said in his weekly radio address about the emotional immigration issue that has driven a wedge into his party.
Bush sides with business leaders who want legislation to let some immigrants stay in the country and work for a set period of time. Others, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, say national security concerns should drive immigration reform.
Protestors rejected arguments that the U.S. must tighten its borders as a security measure in an age of terrorism. "How is that making the border safer?" said David Gonzalez, 22. "When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center? Who do you think built the World Trade Center?"
Many protesters also took issue with the argument that amnesty for immigrants who entered illegally would be unfair to those who entered legally.
"You always hear the argument about 'being unfair to the people waiting in line,'" said Perias Pillay, 44, who immigrated legally from Malaysia when he was 18. "But the reality is that most people don't qualify to wait in line. The government needs to make it easier to immigrate." __ AP reporter Bob Jablon contributed to this report.
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