Los Angeles Police Expect Calm at Immigration Rally

Published: May 1, 2008
LOS ANGELES — A day before thousands are expected to converge here as part of the annual May Day pro-immigration rallies nationwide, police officials said Wednesday that new technology, training for officers and better communication would prevent a repeat of the melee that concluded demonstrations in Los Angeles last year.

Tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched peacefully last year across the country, and although organizers predict lower numbers this year, they said marchers would again demand legal status for illegal immigrants and an end to raids aimed at deporting them. Rallies are planned in New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Denver and many other cities.

Here, three marches are expected to unite downtown into a rally of 20,000 to 80,000, a far cry from the one million, by some estimates, that marched at the first demonstrations, in spring 2006.

Since then, Congress has failed to pass legislation revamping immigration laws, while states have passed or proposed 1,000 bills aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Fencing along the Mexican border has proceeded, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up raids and deportations.

Joshua Hoyt, an organizer of some of the largest rallies, in Chicago, said protest efforts had largely shifted to voter registration and citizenship drives. He said the crowds this year might also be thinned by illegal immigrants’ seeking to keep a low profile and a sense that mass demonstrations had run their course.

“This is going to be a long-term fight,â€