Posted on 03/25/2006 4:34:12 PM PST by calcowgirl
Joining what some are calling the nation's largest mobilization of immigrants ever, hundreds of thousands of people boisterously marched in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall on the U.S. southern border. Spirited crowds representing labor, religious groups, civil-rights advocates and ordinary immigrants stretched over 26 blocks of downtown Los Angeles from Adams Blvd. along Spring Street and Broadway to City Hall, tooting kazoos, waving American flags and chanting "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!). The crowd, estimated by police at more than 500.000, represented one of the largest protest marches in Los Angeles history, surpassing Vietnam War demonstrations and the 70,000 who rallied downtown against Proposition 187, a 1994 state initiative that denied public benefits to undocumented migrants.
(snip)
Many of the marchers were immigrants themselves — both legal and illegal -- from Mexico and Central America. Some had just crossed the border, while others had been here for decades. There were construction workers and business owners; families with young children and people in wheelchairs. Throughout the afternoon, protesters heard speakers demand a path toward legalization and denounce HR 4437, which would tighten border enforcement and crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers.
The rally was organized by numerous unions, religious organizations and immigrant rights groups and publicized through Spanish-language media, which encouraged participants to wear white to symbolize peace and bring American flags. The mostly peaceful march stretched over 26 blocks, shutting down streets and tying up traffic around downtown for hours. Police estimated the crowd at 500,000... Participants said the massive mobilization shows that immigrants' voices must be heard and that they are contributing to the country's economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Every one is there but ICE.
Encircle the rally. Move the herd back to Mexico.
One thing about being packed in like that in a crowd, ya never know what kind of communicable diseases you are exposing yourself too.
Bttt
Boy that's alot of American jobs, food stamps, welfare, housing, while their pay goes to mexico.
It's officially an invasion now. They're getting snippy.
I call B.S.. No way there are that many, and even if there were, those people do not even come close to outnumbering us folks who want reform.
If Americans can't see that we are being invaded, they're either blind or don't care anymore.
They weren't rallying for immigrant rights. They were rallying in favor of anarchy.
HELLO?
Immigration and Customs?
Hello?.............
(sound of crickets chirping)
Ping!
Wanna bet there aren't that many?
""I call B.S.. No way there are that many, and even if there were, those people do not even come close to outnumbering us folks who want reform.""
while that's true the intensity matters as well.
those who want illegal immigration want it more than those who are against it want to stop it.
So does the drug trade, prostitution, and organized crime, by those standards.
Never mind Harry Reid.
Can Republicans impeach one of their own?... :)
Of course not. The only real question is if the order to stand aside came directly from Bush or not...
They don't vote. It doesn't matter if 100 million showed up they don't vote. they are not citizens they don't vote. It doesn't matter. And there are a lot more than those that want reform.
dont be so confident they dont vote
Today we walked out of a restaurant after a non-speaking illegal came to our table before we did we all told the manager we will NOT be back till all illegals are GONE out of this restaurant!
We called our lawn service and told them they better not dare send any illegals to work on our lawn.
We called a foundation company and told them we better not see any illegals working on our foundation or they are so out of here.
Americans need to take a stand and if you go to a hotel and you see a non english speaking person cleaning your room callthe manager and front desk and have them remove the person immediately.
Take a stand, boycott all mexican destinations like cozymel.
If our politicians wont help lets show them where they can work in another country since they decided to insult every American today by waving their flag .
And being socialists they will vote for the socialist party.
..I think you can declare it official--California is lost...
Move em' up move em' out Rawhide!
Seeing this just makes me REAL mad.... and disgusted with our Government for not doing anything a long time ago!
Close the borders!!!!
is this a satire???
you realize that one of the problems is that there are lots and lots of legal immigrants here, even from Mexico...also Ireland is one of the largest sources of illegal labor in Boston...but they speak english
No I am VERY serious about this and we all know what a non-speaking illegal looks like by now.
More Than 100,000 Rally For Immigrants' Rights
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(AP) LOS ANGELES Tens of thousands of immigrant rights advocates from across Southern California jammed downtown to march Saturday in protest of federal legislation that would build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and make helping illegal immigrants a crime.
Protesters, many with their families and wearing white shirts symbolizing peace, came from as far away as Riverside County for a mass rally. They thronged the steps of City Hall, perched in trees and sat atop bus kiosks, chanting "Mexico!" "U.S.A.!" and "Si se puede," an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means "Yes, we can."
The crowd was estimated at 100,000 and growing at noon, police Sgt. Lee Sands said. There were no arrests or injuries.
Police and rally organizers worked for weeks to arrange crowd and traffic control. Orange-shirted ushers helped guide the crowd, which held signs saying "Amnistia" and "Loving my family is not a felony."
It was the largest of a series of school walkouts and work stoppages that were held Friday and Saturday around the country. They are expected to culminate in a "National Day of Action" April 10 organized by labor, immigration, civil rights and religious groups.
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and erect fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. The Senate is to begin debating the proposals on Tuesday.
President Bush on Saturday called for legislation that does not force America to choose between being a welcoming society and a lawful one.
"America is a nation of immigrants, and we're also a nation of laws," Bush said in his weekly radio address about the emotional immigration issue that has driven a wedge into his party.
Bush sides with business leaders who want legislation to let some immigrants stay in the country and work for a set period of time. Others, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, say national security concerns should drive immigration reform.
"They say we are criminals. We are not criminals," said Salvador Hernandez, 43, of Los Angeles, who brought his wife and four children and carried a full-sized, blue-and-white Salvadoran flag.
Now a resident alien, Hernandez came to the United States 14 years ago illegally from El Salvador and has worked as a truck driver, painter and day laborer.
"We want to work legally, so we can pay our taxes and support the country, our country," said Francisco Flores, 27, a wood flooring installer from Santa Clarita who is a former illegal immigrant.
Arguments that the U.S. must tighten its borders as a security measure in an age of terrorism didn't play with the crowd.
"It's sugar-coating racism," said David Gonzalez, 22, of Moreno Valley.
"How is that making the border safer?" he asked. "When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center? Who do you think built the World Trade Center?"
In Phoenix on Friday, police said 20,000 demonstrators marched to the office of Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, co-sponsor of a bill that would step up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border and create a temporary guest-worker program that would require illegals to leave after five years. The turnout clogged major thoroughfares in what officials said was one of the largest protests in the city's history.
In Georgia, activists said tens of thousands of workers did not show up at their jobs Friday after calls for a work stoppage to protest a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.
That bill, which has yet to gain Georgia Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
"" Senators are really concerned about their jobs they would tighten voting laws too.""
can you tell me which senator would be in political jeopardy if they dont tighten voting and immigration laws?
Let's see....in 1984, there were 70,000 illegal protestors and in 2006, there are 500,000. I'd say that we've been invaded and taken over in the intervening 12 years..
You're about 100 years late on that call...
""No I am VERY serious about this and we all know what a non-speaking illegal looks like by now.""
that isnt true...sounds like you have never met a non-english speaking legal immigrant
Initial reports I read said 100,000.
I don't know what the right number is, but that picture is downright scary!
I love it! Great idea.
Invasion? Yup. We gonna do anything about it? Nope.
The "Reconquista" has officially been declared, folks!
the people who favor illegal immigration are more intense about their position than those who oppose illegal immigration...when a few hundred thousand people show up to protest illegal immigration, Ill change my view.
If one were to bother to search my posts on this topic, one would learn quickly that I am in defense of immigration. For starters, I am descended from immigrants that were disdained upon their arrival here. And yet, some of the most patriotic and hard working Americans of any generation have been immigrants who came here seeking liberty and only the opportunity to work and get paid and live and be free.
I usually point out that I have hired Mexican immigrants with good results in a landscaping business that I owned; during a building boom and labor shortage, there was simply no other way for any labor intensive business to function -- to meet the demands of their customers.
But it does disturb me that the immigrants in LA are doing this -- that picture is worth a thousand words. I would be very surprised if the diligent, hardworking Mexican men -- who wanted nothing but more and more work -- would bother themselves doing this sort of thing.
It's apparent that immigration policy in America has been a shambles since way before the Bush presidency, but that he is the first I've heard to propose any sort of workable solution.
It is no surprise that the attempt, even the discussion, to correct immigration lapses of the past generation are going to be met with resistance by second-generation, and other entitlement-seeking illegal immigrants who flooded this country under the watch of previous administrations, particularly left-leaning ones.
I'd also be willing to bet that this group is being propagandized and mobilized by the left, whose fingerprints are on the gathering of any radical, discontented mob.
There seem to be two waves of immigrants -- those who want to earn the right to be Americans and those who do not care to -- that a successful immigration policy must acknowledge.
You got the brunt of a very long, confessional post when all you did was post a one-liner...
They will at the ballot box where it does the most good.
should read, "diligent, hardworking Mexican men that I had hired --"
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