Tens of thousands of people marched through the centre of the United States city of Dallas on Sunday to demand that legislators pass a law to help the estimated 11,5-million illegal workers in the United States.
Many Hispanic families with small children joined the protest, part of a renewed campaign to counter efforts by conservatives in the US Congress to make illegal entry a crime and to show anger at the deadlock in Washington over immigration.
Other demonstrations were held in the nearby Texas city of Fort Worth and in the Florida city of Miami.
The Dallas demonstrators carried banners saying ”United We Stand. We pray for legal status.” or ”We are not terrorists”.
The protesters waved American flags and many wore white clothes to symbolise peace. Several hundred police were on duty but the event was peaceful.
Dallas police surrounded about 20 counter-protesters who supported legislation that passed through the House of Representatives in December that would criminalise illegal entry by undocumented workers.
Some of the protesters in the main rally wore t-shirts that said: ”No HR 4437,” referring to the House Bill that would also build more walls along the US-Mexico border.
President George Bush has proposed a plan that would start a ”guest” worker programme that would help most of the illegal workers. The Senate has failed to agree a compromise so it can propose its own legislation.
In Miami, about 1 500 people staged a rally to call for a ”total amnesty” for undocumented workers who authorities admit do most of the ”dirty jobs” that Americans refuse. Many of the Miami demonstrators were of Haitian and Central American origin.
The Roman Catholic Church has supported the illegal workers and Archbishop John Favalora addressed the crowd before a march through central Miami.
Many of the banners carried by the crowd were in Spanish and had religious references. Demonstrators carried Haitian and Honduran flags as well as the Stars and Stripes of the United States.
Protesters said the American Pledge of Allegiance before beginning the march.
More mass protests are planned across the United States on Monday. Marches have been organized in 60 US cities, including Washington and Los Angeles, as activist groups try to keep pressure on US legislators to reach a compromise on proposed reforms of US immigration policy. – AFP
