Taking it to the streets

BY PETER CLARK | WASHINGTON BUREAU

April 11, 2006

Some 4,000 people attend a rally outside the Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., where protesters carried U.S. flags and those from Mexico and other nations. (AP Photo / April 10, 2006)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A sea of people donning white T-shirts and flying flags flooded the Washington, D.C., mall yesterday to protest a bill that would instantly turn millions of illegal aliens into felons.

The rally was one of dozens in which hundreds of thousands of people demanding U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants spilled into the streets in cities from Atlanta to San Diego in some of the most widespread demonstrations since mass protests began around the country last month.

The warm weather and budding foliage in the capital couldn't have hurt the heavy crowd turnout, but politics was definitely the main course on the menu.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), whose comprehensive immigration bill failed to move forward in the Senate last week, was greeted with screams, whistles and chants from the crowd as he took the podium.

"This debate goes to the heart of who we are as Americans," Kennedy said. "It will determine our future progress as a nation and our future economic growth."

Some immigrants used yesterday's day of protest to flex their economic muscles. Freddy Castillo, 29, came to the United States from El Salvador 12 years ago. He is a legal resident, but wants to be a citizen so he can participate in the political process.

Although Castillo put in a full day of work at the construction site where he is employed yesterday, only one other showed up. Usually 150 workers are on the site, he said.

"They did this to show we are unified and we are needed by the bosses," Castillo said. On May 1, Castillo went on, immigrants around the country will attempt to stage a total economic boycott and work stoppage.

Previous immigration rallies have drawn criticism from some politicians for the number of Mexican flags in the air, but yesterday American flags were ubiquitous.

This was partly due to the labor unions, religious groups and student organizers that distributed flags to the crowd.

One protester, who refused to give his name because he lives in the States illegally, held an American flag fused with Mexico's. With the help of a translator, he said the only U.S. law he has ever broken is crossing the U.S.-Mexican border while hiding in the back of a van.

Passing the House immigration bill into law, he said, would not only turn him into a felon, but also members of his family whom he lives with since they did not turn him over to the authorities.

The high volume of immigrants present at yesterday's rally is not an indication that the issue is not salient in the minds of American citizens.

A recent poll conducted by AP-Ipsos found Americans are now just as likely to mention immigration as an important problem facing the United States as they are to mention the economy.

The Senate has been trying to reconcile a guest-worker program with the border enforcement bill passed by the House in an effort to aid the 12 million people estimated to be living in the shadows in the United States. The inability of the Senate to pass sweeping immigration reform before the two week Congressional recess has cast doubt on the likelihood of this happening.

During the recess, advocacy groups on both sides of the immigration debate say they will continue to keep pressure on members of the Senate so the issue is fresh in their minds when it reconvenes. Ira Melman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a group in favor of the House border security bill, said most Americans express their views "by getting in touch with elected officials, as well as on election day."