Washington – The streets of more than 100 U.S. cities swarmed with pro-immigrant activists on Monday as people turned out in the tens of thousands to demand thoroughgoing immigration reform and to denounce the “criminalization” of undocumented foreigners.
“We want to send a strong message to Congress and to the (George W.) Bush administration that we are fed up, because we work hard and we don’t deserve to be treated like we have been since the 2001 (terrorist) attacks,” Jaime Contreras, the head of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, which organized the protests, told CNN.
“Most immigrants come to the United States seeking a better future for their children and that’s no crime,” he added.
The activist was alluding to the bill approved by the House of Representatives in December that would make unauthorized immigration a felony – it is currently a civil offense – and would even make U.S. churches and charitable institutions liable to criminal charges for providing help to undocumented migrants.
In Washington, tens of thousands crowded The Mall to listen to speakers that included Sen. Edward Kennedy, co-sponsor of the one of the bills calling for a broad-based legalization of undocumented immigrants.
“Thank you for demanding justice for all immigrants,” the Massachusetts Democrat said, to which the demonstrators, some of whom carried images of the Virgin of Guadalupe – Mexico’s patron saint – responded with chants of “USA, USA” and “Si se puede” (Yes we can).
With the Capitol to one side and the Washington Monument to the other, Kennedy recalled that that same site more than four decades before had been where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous and stirring call for respect for freedom and civil rights.
In a speech earlier Monday at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, President Bush asked again that the immigration debate be conducted with “compassion” and that Congress approve a reform bill that includes the guest-worker program.
But Bush also said that the government had to guard the border and ensure that the laws are obeyed.
Activists consulted by EFE agreed that the objective of Monday’s marches was to show that “the giant has awakened” that that they will not stop until undocumented immigrants’ status is legalized.
“Politics aside, legislators have a duty to fix the immigration system and the reform has to include the normalization of the undocumented people,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez, the coordinator of Monday’s “mega-march” in Los Angeles.
While the L.A. event was likely to be the biggest in California on the occasion of the National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights, thousands marched in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento and other cities.
High school and university students who participated in the march in Sacramento – the state capital – told EFE that they preferred a general amnesty for undocumented immigrants to proposals for a guest-worker program.
“I’m an immigrant who is preparing to be able to have a better life. I don’t want to be a servant, nor to work in service jobs or in agriculture. I feel that these proposals want to classify undocumented people simply as inferior … and not give us the chance to better our situation. I want to be more,” said Angelica, who said she preferred not to give her last name.
With slogans such as “Today we march, tomorrow we vote” and “We’re not criminals,” activists nationwide called for the legalization of the undocumented immigrants in the United States, the reunification of families and the protection of labor rights.
In Atlanta, at least 40,000 people marched on Monday waving the U.S. flag and wearing white shirts as a symbol of peace. In Georgia, the demonstrators are also opposing a state measure that, if approved by Gov. Sonny Perdue, would deny benefits to undocumented adult immigrants.
Across the country in Phoenix, tens of thousands gathered at the Arizona State Fairgrounds for a march to the state capitol.
Participating in the march were whole families, students, day laborers, agricultural workers, politicians and activists, among others.
Before the march began, more than a dozen activists addressed the protesters asking them to exercise calm and avoid allowing themselves to be provoked by anti-immigrant groups.
The voices of the thousands of immigrants merged together as the demonstrators sang the national anthem, while they waved U.S. flags as a sign that they wanted to be a part of this country.
“I’m tired of hearing them say that we’re some kind of parasites who live off of public assistance programs,” said Martha Ruiz, a Mexican immigrant.
Showing her hands and the burn marks on them resulting from working more than seven years making flour tortillas, Ruiz said that the immigrants were working men and women.
Among the speakers who addressed thousands of marchers in New York was Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The prelude to Monday’s nationwide mobilization was Sunday’s march in Dallas, where more than 350,000 people banged drums, chanted “Si, se puede!” and waved U.S. flags. Large crowds were also reported at similar events in New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and California.
The series of rallies follows last Friday’s failure by the U.S. Senate to approve before the two-week Easter recess a compromise bill that would have led to rapid legalization for some 7 million of the country’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
