Thread: Losing steam? The Washington Rally

Immigrants rally in front of Capitol

By Andy Sullivan
Reuters
Thursday, September 7, 2006; 6:43 PM



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several thousand immigrants and their supporters -- far fewer than predicted -- rallied before the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to urge Congress to make citizenship possible for those who have entered the country illegally.

In a muted echo of the massive immigrant-rights protests that filled streets from coast to coast in April, the predominantly Hispanic crowd waved American flags and chanted, "Si se puede," Spanish for "Yes we can."

"I want to get a better future for me and for us," said Juan Manuel, 30, a Guatemalan native who works in construction.

Turnout was far below the hundreds of thousands of protesters that organizers predicted.

Speakers at the rally said lawmakers returning from August recess needed to overhaul the nation's immigration laws before they adjourn for elections in November.

"This is one of the most pressing social and moral issues of our time. Congress does not have the right or the luxury to let four weeks go without dealing with it," said Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, who has led efforts to open citizenship to those in the country illegally.

Congressional leaders have been unable to reconcile a tough border-security measure passed by the House of Representatives with a compromise passed by the Senate that would create a guest-worker program and set up a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said reaching a compromise would be "next to impossible" before the November congressional elections.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said on Thursday Republicans hoped to include some border-security measures in other legislation this fall.

Protest organizers are encouraging immigrants who are eligible to vote to show their displeasure at the polls. Some 7 million to 8 million immigrants who could have voted in the last election stayed home, said Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition.

"Whether we change it this year next year or in 2008, the community is extremely disappointed with the leadership in Congress and in the administration and they are going to lose a lot of our support," Contreras said in a phone interview.

The Washington rally was billed as the culmination of a week of similar events across the nation, which likewise failed to attract the large crowds they did in the spring.

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith and Adriana Garcia)

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlene ... ived=False

OK So is this what does the wind going out of a hot air baloon sound like?

Welcome aboard alexz!

Yeah, more and more, it's looking like the opposition is wearing down.
Not a bad sign at all.

Oh, is there a link that you could cut/paste in for the source article above?
(That's the general policy here when providing articles and such - that's the reason I ask...)

Thanks

I want I want I want I want I want

I want I want

said Juan

Yeah. We heard that already. Knock it off!!