Demonstrators toting placards and bullhorns rallied across the United States on Tuesday to demand rights for illegal immigrants, although the turnout was down from mass rallies a year ago, organisers said.
Demonstrations, consumer boycotts and school walkouts got under way by groups calling for an end to a recent crackdown on undocumented immigrants and better treatment for the estimated 11 million people living and working in the shadows of American society.
A year ago, hundreds of thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants walked off the job and packed streets of major cities from New England to California in a massive show of their economic clout.
"This is our way to show our presence. We are here, we are working, we are part of America and we are not going away," said activist Lydia Hernandez as she stood among more than 1,300 demonstrators in central Phoenix.
The latest rallies come as US lawmakers are struggling to devise a workable compromise on immigration, seeking a formula to provide tougher border control and workplace enforcement while addressing the status of illegal immigrants.
Federal legislation that would have created a guest-worker program and offered many illegal immigrants a shot at citizenship failed last year in the face of stiff opposition from Republicans in the US House of Representatives.
This year, protest organisers expect participation to be lower than last, citing waning support for the rallies in the Spanish-language media and stepped-up immigration raids that have raised fear in many immigrant communities nation-wide.
In Los Angeles, about 2,500 demonstrators carrying placards with slogans such as "Stop the Raids & Deportations" and "Legalisation Now" gathered in the city's fashion district.
"America gives us the opportunity to better ourselves, to have better jobs, better careers, better education," said student Marta Duenas, who was carrying an American flag.
OVERHAUL ELUSIVE Los Angeles officials expect 20,000 people to rally in two marches downtown, well below the number who took part in a May 1 protest last year that brought traffic to a standstill.
In Chicago, where protesters were still gathering at late morning, organisers had originally estimated there would be 5,000 marchers - a far cry from the 400,000 to 500,000 who turned out a year ago.
Rallies and boycotts are planned in Boston, New York and Washington D.C. where about 400 Asian immigrants sought to lobby lawmakers. In New York, immigrants planned to decorate a "family tree," with paper leaves containing names of family members from whom they are separated
While the rallies highlight immigrants' demands, US officials and lawmakers remained divided on chances for immigration legislation in coming weeks. "I think there is a reasonably good chance (that a law will be passed) but I don't want to underestimate the challenges," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told CNN television news.
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