Thread: Immigration Reform Protests End Peacefully(Dallas)

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8575955/detail.html

Immigration Reform Protests End Peacefully
POSTED: 1:01 pm CDT April 9, 2006
UPDATED: 5:37 pm CDT April 9, 2006



DALLAS -- Hundreds of thousands of people crowded the streets of downtown Dallas on Sunday to protest immigration reform proposals at City Hall.

Organizers expected more than 50,000 people to march through the city to ask for immigration laws that include legalizing millions of undocumented workers.

Dallas police Chief David Kunkle said crowd estimates ranged from 150,000 to as high as a half-million.

Crowds of people formed outside Cathedral Guadalupe at the corner of Ross Avenue and North Pearl Street. From there, they marched through Ross Avenue, Akard Street, Commerce Street, South Ervay Street and then to Dallas City Hall.

"I've been here 40 years and I think it's time for us to come out of the shadows. We were afraid, but not anymore," demonstrator Guillermo Herrera said. "We are people who want to give our lives for this country."

“I’m trying to let people know that this is not just a Hispanic cause, that we are here together for the workers of this country. You people eat from the hands of our ancestors, you eat from the hands of our brothers. We have the right to be here. I am the first born generation of a Mexican mother who works," Michelle McKee said.

The march lasted 90 minutes, Kunkle said. The rally, which ended at about 3:45, featured several city and civil rights leaders.

Kunkle said the demonstration went "very well" and that the crowd “could not have behaved better."

One officer received minor injuries when she was hit in the face when a scuffle broke out between demonstrators and a small group of counter demonstrators, Kunkle said.

Kunkle said there were no reports of any serious injuries.

Police reported one public intoxication arrest.

He said 500 officers were working the rally along with sheriff's deputies.

Another rally took place in downtown Fort Worth where an estimated 8,000 people demonstrated without incident.

One demonstrator there said he was marching to bring attention to the immigrant work force in north Texas.

“We’re here in America. We’re Mexicans. We’re Hispanics. We’re out here to join one nation -- the USA,” Alfredo Contreras said. “We’re just here to work. I mean, down the street two blocks away from here, I was working on a building. All you saw was Hispanics working there … We just want a better life for all our people here.”

Only 11 million? In a pigs eye. There are nearer to 30 million here...I mean....do the math!!

RR

That's what I say and I'm not good at math.

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/200 ... 58145.html

Update 6: Thousands Rally for Immigrants in Texas
By ANABELLE GARAY , 04.09.2006, 06:21 PM

Demonstrators banged drums, waved U.S. flags and shouted "Si Se Puede!" - Spanish for "Yes, we can!" - in a protest urging federal lawmakers to pass immigration reform that would legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented workers.

Police put the crowd at between 350,000 and 500,000 people. Rallies in the capitals of Minnesota and Iowa also drew thousands of protesters.

Dozens of demonstrations nationwide were set for Monday, a signal that what began as a string of disparate events - attracting tens and even hundreds of thousands of people - has become more coordinated.

"We don't have a leader like Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez, but this is now a national immigrant rights movement," said Joshua Hoyt, director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which has helped organize Chicago-area rallies.

Activists say the Senate's decision last week not to push 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. And that's what they plan to do at demonstrations from Florida to Oregon that include school walkouts and marches in major cities.

Across California, more than 20 events were planned Monday, ranging from a rally in Bakersfield to a ceremony in San Diego dedicated to immigrants who have died while trying to cross the border illegally.

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has been at the forefront of the Catholic Church's calls for activism in support of illegal immigrants, planned to lead a candlelight vigil.

In Georgia, where the governor is expected to sign a bill that would require verification of legal status before adults could reap many state-administered benefits, as many as 30,000 people were expected to march in an Atlanta protest, said organizer Adelina Nicholls. Her group, Alianza 17 de Marzo, staged a work stoppage last month.

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 criminals of people who helped undocumented immigrants; and make it a felony, rather than a civil infraction, to be in the country illegally.

Those mostly local and regional efforts, supported by popular Spanish-language disc jockeys, quickly converted into national plans after hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in dozens of cities last month, culminating March 25 with a 500,000-person rally in Los Angeles.

On Sunday, many of those who crammed into the streets of downtown Dallas wore white clothing to symbolize peace. Marchers included families pushing strollers with their children.

Among the marchers was Marina Resendiz, a 25-year-old premed student at the University of Texas at Arlington who illegally came to Dallas from Mexico with her family as a teenager and went on to attend public schools in Dallas.

"It's hard to study if you don't have a green card. I graduated third in my class but I couldn't get any scholarships," she said as bells from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe tolled in the background. "We don't want to be separated from our families."

One protester hoisted a sign that read "We love the USA, we work, we study, we contribute to the economy of the nation."

Supporters included business owner Michael Longcrier, who carried a sign that read "We work because of the hard working immigrants that work."

"I have friends in this march. I have friends that make my business work," said Longcrier, who said he employs at least one illegal immigrant at his used clothing business.

Hundreds of police were on hand but there were no reports of violence.

Dallas has a large Mexican population but is also home to immigrants from Kosovo, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, El Salvador, Colombia and other countries.

Immigrants and their children, U.S. and foreign born, account for 40 percent of North Texas residents. And about half of the region's foreign born residents are undocumented, according to a study by DFW International Community Alliance.

A similar march was held Sunday in nearby Fort Worth.

In Minnesota, more than 10,000 immigrants and their supporters massed outside the Capitol in St. Paul this afternoon to call for legal rights. Demonstrators waved flags from the United States, Mexico and other countries.

In the Iowa capital of Des Moines, more than 5,000 people gathered to rally against proposed federal legislation and to ask for greater understanding of the immigration issue from all Americans.

These are not really pro-illegal immigration protests. They are "Pro-Illegal Immigration AND Pro-Non-Assimilation" protests because the people joining the illegals are those who have never assimilated and who do not take American laws seriously, AND who harbor some forms of hatred and racism towards the American people.

Let's call it what it really is.

"Marching for immigrants." It's sickening to me how they try to blur the distinction between ILLEGAL ALIENS and legal immigrants!!

We want enforcement of laws against ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS! No one is saying anything anti-LEGAL immigrant. No one's against immigrants, just illegal immigrants.

What part of ILLEGAL don't they understand!?!

Does the word, "illegal," and, "immigrant," mean the same thing when translated into Spanish or something? What is wrong with these people? They must be smarter than that.

Who wouldn't be in favor of immigrants? Immigrants did make this country great - LEGAL IMMIGRANTS that is!!

"I've been here 40 years and I think it's time for us to come out of the shadows. We were afraid, but not anymore," demonstrator Guillermo Herrera said. "We are people who want to give our lives for this country."

“ ’. . . . You people eat from the hands of our ancestors, you eat from the hands of our brothers. We have the right to be here. I am the first born generation of a Mexican mother who works," Michelle McKee said.

illegally here for 40 years!!! Before it's over with, I think the Senate might be joining them in the shadows . . .


Do "we people" provide medical care, education, housing, food stamps, etc. to him, his ancestors or his brothers?

We don't have a leader like Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez, but this is now a national immigrant rights movement," said Joshua Hoyt, director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which has helped organize Chicago-area rallies.

Not only do they not have a leader like Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez, they don't have a right to DEMAND anything . . .

Originally Posted by Mamie

We don't have a leader like Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez . . .

More likely they'll get someone like Hitler to espouse their separatism and racism.

it's amazing how they switched gears so fast -- now they LOVE the USA . . . you know what, I didn't get a college education either -- WE WERE POOR!!! I got accepted at several colleges, but for some reason they wouldn't let me go for free -- I wanted to be a lawyer.

not only are they demanding OUR federal government grant them rights, they've targeted the state capitals now. They don't have state or federal rights -- but at least they are getting the attention of the legislatures and governors of the states -- NOW maybe the states will listen to the citizens

More likely they'll get someone like Hitler to espouse their separatism and racism.

these 'illegals' are doing the dirty work for the communist party and the federal government to create a "classless society" where there is no distinction between 'illegal' and 'legal' immigrant or an 'alien' and a 'citiizen'

Dallas, TX is heavily infested with illegals, and all up and down the streets I was driving through there were a number of signs with Spanish writing on certain businesses.

Even the local Quiznos and Burger kings had a ton of hispanics working there, speaking the language..

The Quiznos I went to that day was just outside the protest area I was in on Saturday and before I left, me and another protestor shouted " USA.. USA"

you can see photos from that day in the Pictures thread