On Common, 2,500 rally for immigrants

After marchers estimated by police at 500,000 rallied against the most restrictive proposals in Los Angeles on Saturday, demonstrations sprung up across the country in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco.

As protests wound down yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that clears the way for 11 million undocumented aliens to seek US citizenship, a victory for the demonstrators.

With a bipartisan coalition in control, the committee also voted down proposed criminal penalties for immigrants found to be in the country illegally. It approved a new temporary program allowing entry for 1.5 million workers seeking jobs in the agriculture industry.

''All Americans wanted fairness, and they got it this evening," said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who played a pivotal role in drafting the legislation.

Raymond L. Flynn, the former Boston mayor and US ambassador to the Vatican, was skeptical the legislation will work its way through the political process. ''I think this is going to get watered down in conference committee. There has to be some real leadership, and I'm happy to see the Catholic Church is providing some leadership on it."

Flynn applauded the protest on the Common, saying, ''This was a real demonstration on social and economic justice, and I haven't seen this in a long time in Boston."

Prior to the vote, yesterday's rally on the Common swelled into a small sea of international humanity. Home health workers from Haiti, janitors from El Salvador, and hotel maids from Ireland sang songs, cheered speakers, and chanted slogans such as ''A united people will never be defeated" and ''It can be done."

In the crowd yesterday, Josue Renaud, a 49-year-old resident alien who lives in Randolph and works as a psychologist, stood with a small group of men waving Haitian flags and shook his head as he spoke about one of the most controversial proposals, which would have made illegal immigration a felony.

''These are not criminals, these are not thugs," he said. ''These are hard-working people who want only to aid their families and send their kids to school."

Aldemir Frietas, a 34-year-old house painter who lives in Everett, shouted encouragement to the speakers as he wore a Brazilian national soccer team shirt and waved a small American flag in each hand.

Frietas, who has been here illegally, said he has fought immigration officials for nearly a decade for the right to live in the United States permanently.

''I don't think I could go back to my country," he said. ''I love America, and I want to be here. I earn my money here, I spend my money here, and I live as an American does. I want to build an American dream like everyone else."

Information from Globe correspondent Richard Cherecwich and The Associated Press was used in this report.