Up to 2 Million Take to the Streets of L.A. To Demonstrate Against Anti-Immigrant Bill

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to demonstrate against a new anti-immigrant bill being considered by Congress. Stretching for 26 blocks, the crowd of over half a million people marched peacefully in what was possibly the largest gathering in the city's history. Some estimates put the crowd total at around two million.

The rally was organized by numerous unions, religious organizations and immigrant rights groups and publicized through Spanish-language media. Many of the demonstrators wore white to symbolize peace and chanted "Sí se puede!" (Yes we can!)

* Demonstrators speaking on the streets of Los Angeles.

At a mass rally, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed the crowd in Spanish. Villaraigosa, who is the city's first Latino mayor said: "We are in favor of an immigration reform, but not in criminalizing our children." The House of Representatives approved legislation in December that would criminalize 11 million undocumented immigrants and make it a crime for priests, nuns, health care workers and other social workers to offer them help. Several cities, including Los Angeles, have passed resolutions against the House legislation and some, such as Maywood, have declared itself a "sanctuary" for undocumented immigrants.

The Senate is considering similar legislation today. Demonstrations are planned near the Capitol, including a prayer service with immigration advocates and clergy who plan to wear handcuffs to demonstrate the criminalization of immigration violations.

The Roman Catholic Church and other religious communities have launched immigrant rights campaigns in recent weeks. Hundreds of thousands of people staged demonstrations in more than a dozen cities. 50,000 people took to the streets in Denver. 20,000 rallied in Phoenix in what may have been the city's largest protest ever. In Atlanta, An estimated 70,000 immigrant workers took part in a work stoppage on Friday in Atlanta.

* Javier Rodriguez, longtime immigrant rights activist and spokesperson for the March 25th Coalition Against HR 4437, the umbrella group that organized Saturday's march.
* Dolores Huerta, pioneering social activist. Co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez.

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