Thread: 500,000 Protest in Los Angeles for Illegal Immigrants

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_3639775



Article Launched: 3/25/2006 01:38 PM


Thousands rally downtown

By Rachel Uranga
LA Daily News

In Los Angeles' largest ever pro-immigrant rally, tens of thousands of protesters marched through downtown streets today to protest a federal bill calling for a 700-mile U.S.-Mexican border wall and the criminalization of illegal immigrants.
By noon, organizers estimated more than 500,000 demonstrators were swarming closed streets around City Hall as a series of speakers rallied the crowd, urging unity and denouncing the bill.

Among the speakers was Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spoke to the cheering crowd for about two minutes this morning.

"I am the mayor, but I am also the child of immigrants,'' Villaraigosa said. "We are workers, not criminals, and we are here, with the Catholic Church, the unions, with all those people. We are together. We are here today to say to this great country, this great America was built on the back of immigrants.''

Protestors focused on the federal proposal introduced by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., one of a raft of measures that will be considered by Congress in the coming weeks.

The House 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 fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. The Senate is to begin debating immigration proposals on Tuesday.

While the bills have been cheered by some Americans, they have split the Republican Party on the thorny issue of immigration and stirred anger in immigrant communities.

By 9 a.m., today's Los Angeles demonstration -- organized by the March 25th Coalition, a group of clergy and activists -- had already drawn thousands of people who clogged the streets and jammed traffic.

Several Los Angeles Police Department divisions were put on a modified tactical alert as the protestors -- many wearing white shirts and carrying U.S. and Mexican flags -- streamed toward City Hall where speakers addressed the crowd from the south balcony.

About 12 million illegal immigrants -- or 5 percent of the country's work force -- live in the United States, with California home to an estimated 2.5 million, more than any other state.

And as Congress prepares for a heated battle on immigration and President George W. Bush calls for a "civil'' debate, pro-immigrant activists are turning up the decibel level.

For weeks, activists had used Spanish-language radio, television and word of mouth to draw protesters to the rally.

But those pushing for tougher immigration laws say protesters who oppose a law making illegal immigrants felons are missing the point, which is that strictly enforced rules will fix the nation's broken immigration system.

"People are demanding to be rewarded for breaking the law,'' Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports the criminalizing of illegal immigrants, said last week. "We are not going to get a handle on this problem if we reward people who break the law.''

In his weekly radio address today, President Bush underscored America's immigrant history and called for secure borders and strict immigration enforcement.

Bush also urged Congress to write new immigration law with a guest worker program that could provide legal status _ short of citizenship _ for some of the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"As we debate the immigration issue, we must remember there are hardworking individuals, doing jobs that Americans will not do, who are contributing to the economic vitality of our country,'' Bush said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00661.html



Thousands Again Protest Immigration Bill

By PETER PRENGAMAN
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 25, 2006; 4:47 PM



LOS ANGELES -- Tens of thousands of immigrant rights advocates from across Southern California marched Saturday in protest of federal legislation that would build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and make helping illegal immigrants a crime.

The march followed rallies on Friday that drew throngs of protesters to major cities around the nation.

On Saturday, demonstrators streamed into downtown Los Angeles for what was expected to be one of the city's largest pro-immigrant rallies. The crowd was estimated at more than 100,000, said police Sgt. Lee Sands.

Many of the marchers wore white shirts to symbolize peace and also waved U.S. flags. Some also carried the flags of Mexico and other countries, and even wore them as capes.

Elger Aloy, 26, of Riverside, a premed student, pushed a stroller with his 8-month-old son at Saturday's Los Angeles march.

"I think it's just inhumane. ... Everybody deserves the right to a better life," Aloy said of the legislation.

The 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 fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. The Senate is to begin debating the proposals on Tuesday.

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.

On Friday, thousands of people joined in rallies in cities including Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta, staging school walkouts, marches and work stoppages. The Los Angeles demonstration led to fights between black and Hispanic students at one high school, but the protests were largely peaceful, authorities said.

More than 2,700 students from at least eight Los Angeles high schools and middle schools poured out of classrooms to join the protest.

Police in Phoenix said 20,000 demonstrators marched on Friday to the office of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., co-sponsor of a bill that would step up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border and create a temporary guest-worker program that would require illegals to leave after five years. The turnout clogged major thoroughfares in what officials said was one of the largest protests in the city's history.

Activists said tens of thousands of workers did not show up at their jobs Friday in Georgia after calls for a work stoppage to protest a bill passed on Thursday by the state House. That bill, which has yet to gain Georgia Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.

This photograph literally made my stomach roll over.

a half a million people.

I'm struck speechless for the moment.

We are already late. I've got to go. Hopefully the trolls will stay at bay for awhile. I may be back tonight and I may not.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... -headlines



More Than 500,000 Rally in L.A. for Immigrants' Rights
By Teresa Watanabe and Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer

2:51 PM PST, March 25, 2006

Joining what some are calling the nation's largest mobilization of immigrants ever, hundreds of thousands of people boisterously marched in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall on the U.S. southern border. Spirited crowds representing labor, religious groups, civil-rights advocates and ordinary immigrants stretched over 26 blocks of downtown Los Angeles from Adams Blvd. along Spring Street and Broadway to City Hall, tooting kazoos, waving American flags and chanting "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!). The crowd, estimated by police at more than 500.000, represented one of the largest protest marches in Los Angeles history, surpassing Vietnam War demonstrations and the 70,000 who rallied downtown against Proposition 187, a 1994 state initiative that denied public benefits to undocumented migrants.

The marchers included both longtime residents and the newly arrived, bound by a desire for a better life and a love for this county.

Arbelica Lazo, 40, illegally immigrated from El Salvador two decades ago but said she now owns two business and pays $7,000 in taxes annually.

Jose Alberto Salvador, 33, came here illegally just four months ago to find work to support the wife and five children he left behind; in his native Guatemala, he said, what little work he could find paid only $10 a day. "As much as we need this country, we love this country," Salvador said, waving a stick with both the American and Guatemalan flag. "This country gives us opportunities we don't get at home."

Saturday's rally, spurred by anger over legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last December, was part of what many say is an unprecedented effort to organize immigrants and their supporters across the nation. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is to take up efforts Monday to complete work on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. Unlike the House bill, which beefed up border security and toughened immigration laws, the Senate committee's version is expected to include a guest worker program and a path to legalization for the nation's 10 to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have staged demonstrations in more than a dozen cities. The Roman Catholic Church and other religious communities have launched immigrant rights campaigns, with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony taking a leading role in speaking out against the House bill and calling on his priests to defy its provisions that would make felons of anyone who aided undocumented immigrants. In addition, several cities, including Los Angeles, have passed resolutions against the House legislation and some, such as Maywood, have declared itself a "sanctuary" for undocumented immigrants.

"There has never been this kind of mobilization in the immigrant community ever," said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "They have kicked the sleeping giant. It's the beginning of a massive immigrant civil rights struggle."

One of the marchers Saturday, Jose Alberto Salvador, 33, left his wife and children behind in Guatemala four months ago to cross the border into the United States so he could earn enough money to return home and buy a house.

Jorge Valdovinos, 43, is a legal immigrant from Mexico who has three US-born children and works as a financial advisor.

Amid a sea of American and Mexican flags, protesters chanted "Si Se Puede!" and waved banners in Spanish that read, "We aren't criminals" and "The USA is made by immigrants." GORMAN w/feeds from staff

"I love this country as if it were my own, for the opportunities it has given me," said Laurentino Ramirez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who works at a garment factory. "The law is unjust for those who don't have papers. We come to work. We don't come to do harm to anyone."

Many of the marchers were immigrants themselves — both legal and illegal -- from Mexico and Central America. Some had just crossed the border, while others had been here for decades. There were construction workers and business owners; families with young children and people in wheelchairs. Throughout the afternoon, protesters heard speakers demand a path toward legalization and denounce HR 4437, which would tighten border enforcement and crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

The rally was organized by numerous unions, religious organizations and immigrant rights groups and publicized through Spanish-language media, which encouraged participants to wear white to symbolize peace and bring American flags. The mostly peaceful march stretched over 26 blocks, shutting down streets and tying up traffic around downtown for hours. Police estimated the crowd at 500,000, more than five times the size of the 1994 rally against California's Proposition 187, which would have denied services to undocumented immigrants. Participants said the massive mobilization shows that immigrants' voices must be heard and that they are contributing to the country's economy.

I'll try to add more pictures as I find them.

Click Here to View Video

Originally Posted by JuniusJnr

This photograph literally made my stomach roll over.

a half a million people.

I'm struck speechless for the moment.

Me, too.

I thought it would be over a million.

From the pictures, it looks like it very well could be.

There were protesters in Phoenix yesterday making life miserable for people who just wanted to go on with their day. Where were all the INS agents?

Originally Posted by arizona85032

There were protesters in Phoenix yesterday making life miserable for people who just wanted to go on with their day. Where were all the INS agents?

We got that one covered in the following thread. Illegals are making everyone's life miserable across the country.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-19909.html

I see the organizers thought about getting more American flags into the march this time. How touching

Sorry, but you are NOT Americans, and you are NOT legal. Thanks to all of you for letting all Americans know just how badly their government has failed to protect them.

You give great fuel to every state legislature that is trying to get bills through to cut off benefits to the mobs of illegals.

What a GREAT visual! So, if this HR4437 passes, what are these mobs going to do?? It's not hard to make that leap in our imagination. Imagine this same hoard burning cars, smashing up property....They are only peaceful now because they PLAN on getting SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. When that doesn't happen, ......

And you helped us get the word out about illegals voting. Where people would not have believed it possible that illegals would have the chutzpah to register to vote.....NOW THEY SEE PLAINLY they are demanding from "THEIR" congressmen. ITS NO LONGER HARD FOR ANYONE TO IMAGINE THEY WILL REGISTER TO VOTE ENMASSE.

We will see them vote, legal or illegal....they always seem to find someone that makes realistic ID's. They will eventually change our whole political climate.

Some are already talking about socialism being better than capitalism!