US News
Mass rallies across US call for immigrant rights
May 1, 2007, 18:31 GMT
Los Angeles - Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants and their supporters marched in mass rallies across the US Tuesday calling for legalization of their status.
The marches in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington and over 60 other cities came as US President George W Bush is pushing for a guest worker programme that has been opposed by many immigrant groups since it does not include a clear path to permanent residence or citizenship for the estimated 12 million foreigners in the US without legal residence permits. The marches were also intended to protest recent federal raids that resulted in more than 18,000 arrests nationwide.
'We want to work here legal,' said Santos Abraham, 40, a Guatemalan immigrant who took part in a march in Oakland, California. 'We like to do the work for the American people.'
Some of the biggest rallies were expected in Los Angeles, where police said an estimated 100,000 people were on the march downtown Tuesday morning.
An estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants live in the southern California city. Last year, over 650,000 people demonstrated in a May 1 march, as many students took the day off school to participate in the protests.
This year, city, school district and church leaders have urged students to stay in school and the pleas seemed to have been heeded.
Organisers' calls for a commercial boycott also seemed to have gone unheeded with most stores and businesses open as usual.
Seasar Donaires, 25, was one of those sitting the march out. Donaires, an immigrant from Mexico who is now a US citizen, said he is disillusioned with the pace of progress since last year's historic rallies.
'I went screaming all the way to City Hall, but nothing has been accomplished,' he told the Los Angeles Times. 'It's a big waste of time. Nobody's listening to us this year. It's not going to have impact.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in US
- 1. Mitt Romney Addresses Tea Party Summit Pictures
- 2. Seven injured as US Navy plane crashes into apartments
- 3. At least three injured in US Navy plane crash
- 4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, others to face death penalty trial
- 5. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others to face death penalty trial
Older Talkback
page: 1
As a resident of Mexifornia, I say its time to regain California from the illegals. Unless you speak fluent mexican (not spanish) you can't get an order the way you want it from a fast food joint, work is now limited to the ability to communicate to the illegals, and if you don't know what they are saying within earshot you most likly are a target for their gangs. Anaheim, Santa Ana, LA, and most all Socal has been taken over. Cars, parked on front lawns, horns honking instead of doorbells ringing, laundry done in pools and hung out to dry on fences, jails filled to the brim with illegal criminals, DUI murders, rapes, drugs, hospitals can't keep up, schools and children at risk, unhealthy viruses passed on the US citizens, and the list goes on and on and on.
The illegals are absolutely worthless citizens.
The first chance they get they go on welfare.
They dump babies like poop.
They are crooks form the gitgo.
They think they own this continent - well I have news for them they don't - they are from the far south and not UP here. They also have done nothing to be proud of - their societies are garbage!
They are too stupid to even realize that the Bushites and corporate America have enslaved them.
Send 'em back now!
r
I see the intellectuals of the anti-immigrant right-wing have posted their comments here.
I see the multicultural, leftist, politically correct, always apologizing, morons supporting the anti-American groups also posts here.
have no right to protest illegal Mexicans protesting for their rights. Illegal Mexicans have their bush (AKA HONEST BUSH) given rights to protest and recieve more rights and social benefits than the needy citizens.
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS??? WHAT ABOUT IMMIGARANT RIGHTS, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE NATION OF AMERICA?
What have you done to EARN rights since wrecking hundreds of US neighborhoods with your drugs, gangs, and prostitution rings?
Shame on these maggots to even protest in public for breaking our laws, violating our borders, murdering our citizens, keeping wages artifically low, and bankruting our social services and hospitals!
You creeps OWE THE US TAXPAYER BILLIONS FOR STEALING AND COSTING US SO MUCH IN TAXES FOR 3 AND 4 DECADES!!
What a sickness these people have in their heads.
but you see people are now getting sick and tired of them, there rallys are getting much smaller, buissness are not closeing for them, RAIDS ARE NOW BEING CONDUCTED,THE MESSAGE IS BECOMEING LOUD AND CLEAR THE AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE NOT GOING TO STAND FOR MUCH MORE OF THIS, AFTER ALL WHERE THE ONE WHO HAVE THE RIGHTS NOT THEM,IF YOUR ILLEGAL YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS ZIP NONE,GO BUY A DICTIONARY AND LOOK UP THE WORD ILLEGAL THAT SHOULD TELL YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.
these people make me sick, where in god name did these people get the idea that they have rights in our country, do they think that there in mexico, thats where there RIGHTS ARE NOT HERE.TALK ABOUT LEACHES THEY ARE DISCUSTING,I TOO NOTICE THAT LOT AND LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE HAD QUITE ENOUGH OF THEM, THANK GOD I JUST WOUNDER WHAT TOOK SO LONG.IM SO SICK OF HEARING WHAT PROUD HARD WORKING PEOPLE THEY ARE< THERE FREE LOADERS THATS WHAT THEY ARE< , PROUD PEOPLE DONT TAKE FROM OTHERS DO THEY< OF CORSE THEY DONT THEY FOLLOW THE LAWS AND PAY THERE OWN WAY< THEY DONT DEMAND THINGS THAT THERE NOT ENTITLED TO.
page: 1
Illegal aliensMay 1st, 2007 - 19:01:07
Los Angeles - Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants and their supporters marched in mass rallies across the US Tuesday calling for legalization of their status.
How can these people demand legalization of their status when they broke the law to get here!
Many after getting here continue to break other laws like stealing the idenity of real US citizens --forming gangs that terrorize good neighborhoods--and yes take away the jobs of out of work construction workers, that can't get a job because they don't speal spanish.
Yes thats correct--Our own people can't work a lot of jobs because the foremen and workers from Mexico won't take orders or give them in English--What a Crock of S--T
Report this comment