Thousands to march today over immigration reform
The Arizona Republic Apr. 10, 2006 07:55 AM
Thousands of people will march today in Phoenix and across the country, walking and rallying in support of legalization for undocumented immigrants.
At least 120 cities from Los Angeles to New York are participating in the National Day of Action, which will include student walkouts, rallies, demonstrations and candle light vigils.
Marchers will gather today at the Arizona State Fairgrounds for the 1 p.m. walk to Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza by the Capitol for a 4 p.m. rally. A crowd of more than 20,000, and as high as 100,000 is expected for the march, dubbed Somos America: Hoy Marchamos Maana Votamos, meaning We are America: Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote.
The demonstration, in support of comprehensive immigration reform, will pass near buildings where thousands of state employees work, as well as city, municipal and federal court buildings, but away from the heart of downtown.
A group of high school and college students have organized a march of their own, saying they will meet at 10 a.m. at Steele Indian School Park at Seventh Avenue and Indian School Road and walk to the state Capitol. Tentative plans call for them to march down Central Avenue and west on Washington Street, student leaders said. Phoenix Police said they expect a peaceful protest but they anticipate increased downtown traffic woes.
Phoenix Police, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and several other law enforcement agencies will have more than 600 officers at the event to make sure the march is safe and orderly. About 140 motorcycle officers will escort the marchers along the route, and hundreds of officers will be stationed on the route and in nearby neighborhoods. Capitol Police and DPS officers will be in charge at the State Capitol.
Monday's march comes just two weeks after a March 24 protest drew 20,000 supporters and paralyzed 24th Street and parts of the city's east side, surprising organizers and catching city officials off guard. That march was to protest a bill passed by the House in December that would have reclassified undocumented immigrants as felons, and made people who assist them vulnerable to prosecution.
The national demonstrations, which began early last month in Chicago with at least 100,000 people, have galvanized hundreds of thousands of immigrant and U.S.-born Latinos to a level not seen since the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when Hispanics protested political and educational systems they believed to be unjust.
Voter registration groups in Phoenix and other cities hope to leverage that enthusiasm by signing up new voters, and encouraging eligible immigrants to become citizens.
Latinos historically have had low turnout during elections, and immigrants from Mexico have typically lagged behind other immigrant groups in becoming citizens, further diminishing their political clout. Nineteen percent of the nation's 40 million Latinos voted in the 2004 Presidential election, according to data compiled from the U.S. Census by the Thomas Rivera Policy Institute, a research center based at the University of Southern California.
Of the 40 million Latinos in the U.S., 16 million are U.S. citizens, but nearly 6.8 million of them were not registered to vote in 2004. Another 1.7 million registered voters did not cast ballots, according to the institute.