Immigration Protests

The protest march in downtown Los Angeles went from Broadway and Olympic to City Hall.

(Bob Chamberlin / LAT)
Mar. 25, 2006

Recent illegal migrants and those who have gained legal status cite their contributions to the U.S. 'I love this country,' says one undocumented man.

Many Stories, a Single Theme

From the Los Angeles Times

By Anna Gorman, Michelle Keller and Kelly-Anne Suarez
Times Staff Writers
March 26, 2006
Candido Hernandez, 26, trekked through the mountains from Mexico more than two decades ago and now works construction to support his three U.S.-born children.

Carmen Vazquez, 50, cleaned homes in Los Angeles while relatives raised her daughter in El Salvador before she became a legal resident and the two were able to reunite here several years later.

Maria Ortega, 30, came from Mexico to look for better opportunities and found work at a plastics factory after presenting false documents.

The three were among a festive crowd police estimated at 500,000 that marched through downtown Los Angeles to City Hall on Saturday to support immigrants rights and oppose a pending federal bill that would make illegal immigration a felony.

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Amid a sea of American and Mexican flags, protesters waved banners in Spanish that read, "We aren't criminals" and "The USA is made by immigrants."

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One bill proposes adding 700 miles of fencing along the southern border, which Mexican immigrant Ortega said will only make the journey for illegal immigrants riskier.

Ortega, who has three children, paid a coyote to take her through the mountains nine years ago. "The people aren't going to stop coming; there will be more deaths."*

Times staff writers Hector Becerra and Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this article.