Immigration Watch International

Two years ago, the May Day march drew more than 500,000 supporters registering their protest of recently scuttled plans to make being an illegal immigrant a felony. Last year, the crowd was estimated at 35,000 and today it appeared to be smaller, although thousands from two main marches converged on City Hall in the late afternoon.

The May Day marches in cities across the U.S. were expected to be smaller than in the past — about 20,000 were predicted in Los Angeles — and quieter. Widespread fear of government raids was blamed for the lower turnout, along with the immigrant movement’s shift in focus from marches to boosting citizenship applications and voter registration.

Pete Navarro, president of the Mexican American Bar Assn., said Spanish-language disc jockeys were not promoting the event as heavily as they did in previous years. And with immigration reform efforts stalled in Congress, there have been no urgent headlines inducing marchers to get out and show the flag.

Rick Oltman, spokesman for the anti-illegal immigration group California for Population Stabilization, said march organizers may have deliberately sought to avoid a big turnout. “They realized that all these numbers hurt them in terms of support,” he said. “It is reminding the American people that there is this whole group of people, illegal aliens, who do not want our laws enforced.”

Calling for a host of immigration reforms, marchers have found allies in local political leaders and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. In a news conference this morning, the chamber stressed the need for more worker visas and a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. “This is a landmark moment,” said Sam Garrison, the chamber’s vice president of public policy. “Here you have labor, business, local elected officials, immigrant rights activists and leading educators all coming together to say this has to stop. “The raids are frightening workers. They are worrying employers,” he said. “I think it’s going to cause a lot of businesses to think twice about coming to Los Angeles.”

By late afternoon, Thurday’s event was proceeding without any significant confrontations between marchers and police. Last year, an otherwise peaceful march degenerated into a chaotic and violent episode at MacArthur Park. Officers clubbed protesters and media, fired non-lethal riot guns into the crowd, and ultimately generated more than 250 legal claims from people who said they were injured. In a scathing self-appraisal, the department said officers used excessive violence and suffered from a failure of leadership at the scene. This year, the LAPD mounted elaborate training measures to prepare for the May Day crowd.

Some of those who were injured last year told reporters at MacArthur Park this morning that they hoped for a more peaceful march. Planning to march at the front of the crowd, they wore red shirts and carried a banner that read “Fuimos golpeados. Seguimos luchando” — “We were beaten. We keep fighting.” “We want this year to be peaceful,” said Henry Reyes, who said he was injured last year by a motorcycle officer. “We hope this year will be better than last year.”

In the last two years, organizers have been split on the issue of boycotting work, school and consumer spending in honor of May Day. This year, they shelved the boycott idea, favoring instead a united front on comprehensive immigration reform, according to Angelica Salas executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles..

The issue of comprehensive reform has colored the presidential campaign, prompted hundreds of state and local legislative proposals, and brought tens of thousands of marchers into the streets across the nation every May Day for several years. As the rhetoric has ratcheted up, immigration raids have become more frequent. In the last fiscal year, some 4,900 websites were swept up in local work-site arrests, compared with just over 100 in 2001. In just one raid last February, authorities arrested more than 130 undocumented workers at a Van Nuys manufacturing company.

Continued raids could be bad for business, chamber officials said today, citing a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The report, released today, said tens of thousands of jobs could be lost if continued raids force businesses to flee the state. Enforcement efforts should focus on companies with a clear history of exploiting workers, it said. “The immigrant worker built Southern California and the L.A. economy,” Garrison said. “At the end of the day, they benefit everyone, whether legal or not.”