Activists speak out for illegal residents
Advocates for immigrants rallied yesterday in Boston to push for citizenship options for illegal immigrants in demonstrations far smaller than last year's historic nationwide protests, with a string of recent raids looming over the gathering.
About 500 people gathered on Boston Common to sing, chant, and listen to a series of impassioned pro-immigrant speeches, just one-sixth of last year's estimated turnout of more than 3,000 people. Many at the rally expressed continued outrage over a high-profile March raid of a New Bedford plant in which 361 illegal workers were detained.
"Stop the raids now! Stop the raids now!" screamed protest organizer Sergio Reyes.
Reyes said in an interview that the raids had forced immigrant advocates to play political defense, a change from last year's May 1 gathering, when insistent protests thrust immigration issues back into the public spotlight.
"We see the raids and the deportations as a regressive response to the rallies last year," said Reyes. "There is a degree of force being used against immigrants that is even more than is being used against criminals in the streets."
Smaller rallies yesterday unfolded in Springfield, Chelsea, Everett, Lowell, Fitchburg, and Worcester, as well as larger ones in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and several other US cities. But turnouts were smaller than last year across the board.
According to federal government statistics, 221,664 illegal immigrants were removed from the United States last year, a 20 percent increase from the year before. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.
Harvard professor George Borjas , an immigration specialist, said the increased visibility by immigration groups may have caused a backlash.
"If anything, I think last year's rallies backfired, hardening the resolve of the antiamnesty forces," Borjas said via e-mail.
So-called amnesty refers to proposals to forgive illegal immigrants for breaking the law and offer them a path to citizenship. Speaker after speaker yesterday called for amnesty.
But many Americans oppose such policies, according to national polls. President Bush recently proposed granting illegal immigrants three-year work visas costing $3,500 but also requiring them to subsequently return home to apply for US citizenship after paying a $10,000 fine. The proposal has been greeted coolly by both sides in the debate.
The political tensions over immigration were on display yesterday on the Common. A wall of 15 bicycle police separated the immigration advocates from about 25 counterdemonstrators who chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" The advocates responded by chanting, "Racists out! Racists out!" and the showdown distracted the crowd for about 15 minutes.
One of the counterdemonstrators, Robert McClory , a 64-year-old firefighter from Beverly, said illegal immigrants are harming the nation's social fabric.
"The illegal immigrants are draining our education system, our healthcare system," he said. "We'll respond to a fire and there are 28 people living in two rooms. It's too much."
The political tension has sent shivers through the immigrant community, said Paul Billon , 39, who came here legally from Haiti more than two decades ago.
"People are getting jumpy," he said. "People are unsure what the government is going to do next."
But for all the policy debates, immigration advocates said that the raids are of more immediate concern in the wake of the New Bedford operation, in which dozens of families were split apart as workers were detained and deported while their children and spouses were left behind.
"The very real change is that communities feel that the government is taking their neighbors," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "The theme this year is stop the raids." 