Washington – Hundreds of thousands of immigrant-rights supporters rallied in Washington and dozens of other cities on Monday in a nationwide show of unity to assert a claim on the American dream and demand new legal protections.
Waving U.S. flags and chanting “Yes, We Can” in Spanish, predominantly Latino protesters marched past the White House to an afternoon rally at the National Mall. Similar demonstrations took place in New York; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Philadelphia; and other places large and small.
Reminiscent of the civil rights protests and anti-war demonstrations of the 1960s and ’70s, the coast-to-coast rallies displayed what organizers described as an emerging social and political force as immigrants find their voice.
“You’re what this debate is about,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told demonstrators on the National Mall just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. “Some in Congress want to turn America away from its true spirit. They believe immigrants are criminals. And they’re wrong.”
A crowd that stretched five blocks down the mall cheered with gusto and waved American – and a few Mexican and Central American – flags in response.
Rallies took place in communities of all sizes, from a gathering of at least 50,000 people in Atlanta to one involving 3,000 people in the farming town of Garden City, Kan., which has fewer than 30,000 residents.
President Bush is pushing Congress to enact the most comprehensive immigration overhaul in two decades amid growing signs that lawmakers may be unable to reach consensus before they adjourn in October. A compromise bill embodying much of what Bush said he wanted collapsed in the Senate last week, forcing senators to shelve the plan until they return from a two-week recess on April 24.
Organizers of the Washington rally estimated turnout at nearly a half-million. Police declined to provide an estimate.
Monday’s rallies were the latest in a series of demonstrations that erupted several weeks ago to protest a House-passed bill that would make illegal immigration a felony and – if strictly interpreted – could mean jail sentences for anyone offering assistance to illegal immigrants. Sponsors of the House bill say the legislation has been misinterpreted and have promised to agree that illegal immigration would be a misdemeanor.
The demonstrations were billed as a “National Day of Action” to mobilize against the House bill and build support for a measure that would put many of the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants on track toward permanent legal status and eventual U.S. citizenship.
Many U.S. citizens, particularly those in border states, say illegal immigrants are overburdening social services and taking jobs that would otherwise go to U.S. workers.
