(CNN) -- Thousands of protesters in cities across the United States waved American flags as they rallied Saturday against Arizona's tough new immigration law and pushed for national immigration reform."Si se puede," "Yes we can" and "Boycott Arizona" were common refrains for groups protesting from Los Angeles, California, to New York City.
May 1 is traditionally a rallying day for supporters of immigration reform. But protesters across the country said they were galvanized by Arizona's recent passage of a law cracking down on illegal immigration.
The new Arizona law requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect they are in the United States illegally. Critics say it will lead to discrimination and racial profiling.
But Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has said the law is necessary because the federal government has failed to enforce border security with Mexico, allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to move into the state. She said changes to the law she approved Friday, which clarify that police could only stop suspected illegal immigrants while enforcing some other law or ordinance, should eliminate concerns about racial profiling.
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Illegal Immigration and Deportation
Arizona
Protests and Demonstrations
But criticism of the law was clear among tens of thousands of protesters flooding the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday, where organizers said they hoped to send a strong message with the number of people turning out.
"Does my face look illegal?" one sign read.
Karen Rayner, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said 50,000 people marched at the demonstration's peak. Rayner said the rally was "very peaceful" and no one was arrested.
Police arrested about 20 protesters -- including a U.S. congressman -- at Saturday's rally in Washington.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, was among a group of protesters who were arrested for blocking the sidewalk outside the White House in what they said was a planned act of civil disobedience. The protesters wore T-shirts that read "ARREST ME NOT MY FAMILY" and "ARREST ME NOT MY FRIENDS."
A smaller group of about 200 people rallied outside the State Capitol in Phoenix, protesting the new law and asking the federal government to step in to stop it.
About 1,000 people gathered in New York City's Union Square on Saturday afternoon.
Cesar Mack, an international studies student at City College of New York, told CNN he was an undocumented immigrant from Peru.
"I've been living in this country six years and I'm still fighting for immigration reform," he said.
CNN iReporter Julio Ortiz-Teissonniere said he saw signs in Arabic, French, Spanish and English at the New York rally. One sign in the crowd particularly caught his eye: "Todos somos Arizona" -- "We are all Arizona."
"They were trying to convey that message that it's a city and nation based on immigration. Everybody came from somewhere else," he said.
CNN's Susan Candiotti, Ted Rowlands, Ione Molinares and Casey Wian contributed to this report.
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.http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/01/immigration.rallies/
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/01/immigration.rallies/
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1 comment:
I saw Jay Leno at Correspondent Dinner his best line was; “That was my favorite story (this year) Republicans and a Lesbian bondage club. It’s ironic, Republicans don’t want lesbian getting married but they do like watching them “tie the knot”. So I thought that was interesting.”
You can say the same about Tea Party, they say they respect the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence but they do not mind passing laws, through weak Governors who only care about getting reelected on the backs of undocumented workers, that will not pass Constitution muster, just like Arizona’s House Bill 2779 from two years ago, keep passing them Arizona and the rest of us will continue to challenged them and you will fail in a court of law (and yes we will boycott you). Their phony patriotism is sickening, they are just racists going by another name. We all know you are just itching to put a sheet on their head? Let’s face it the Republicans had eight years to deal with health care, immigration, climate change and financial oversight and governance and they failed. It appears that the Republican Party is only good at starting wars (two in eight years, with fat contracts to friends of Cheney/Bush) but not at winning wars as seen by the continuing line of body bags that keep coming home. The Republicans party will continue turned inward to their old fashion obstructionist party (and their Confederacy appreciation roots) because they continue to allow a small portions (but very loud portion) of their party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” to rule their party. I will admit that this fringe is very good at playing “Follow the Leader” by listening to their dullard leaders, Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush, Savage, Sarah Bailin, Orly Taitz, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Blowhards and acting as ill programmed robots (they have already acted against doctors that perform abortions). The Birthers and the Tea party crowd think they can scare, intimidate and force others to go along with them by comments like “This time we came unarmed”, let me tell you something not all ex-military join the fringe militia crazies who don’t pay taxes and run around with face paint in the parks playing commando, the majority are mature and understand that the world is more complicated and grey than the black and white that these simpleton make it out to be and that my friend is the point. The world is complicated and people like Hamilton, Lincoln, and Roosevelt believed that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now it’s about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. For a party that gave us Abraham Lincoln, it is tragic that the ranks are filled with too many empty suits and the crazy Birthers who have not learned that the way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked internet lies, then, and only then, do you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called “facts”. Let’s face it no one will take the Birthers seriously until they win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. I heard that Orly Taitz now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC), she wants to re-establish a family values party, that’s like saying that the Catholic Church cares about the welling being of children in their care, too late for that.
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