http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news ... 3933c.html

Immigrants set to demonstrate what life would be like without them
By JAMES DEWEESEStaff Writer, (856) 794-5114
Published: Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, February 14, 2006

— Nancy Matias hopes her shuttered shop will serve as a poignant reminder of the local contributions made by immigrant workers, business owners and residents.

Matias, a Mexican immigrant who's lived in Bridgeton for 16 years, won't open her year-old Commerce Street restaurant, Mexico Lindo, today.

Instead, she and her family will join an estimated 1,500 Spanish-speaking immigrants from Cumberland County at a Philadelphia rally to protest a proposed federal law that would criminalize illegal immigrants' presence in the county and expand the definition of alien smuggling to include agencies that help them.

The rally, scheduled for noon at the Liberty Bell at Fifth and Market streets, complements what a loose coalition of Hispanic community organizations across New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania have termed “A Day Without Immigrants.â€