CHICAGO — Thousands of chanting, flag-waving immigrants and activists rallied in cities across the country Thursday, attempting to reinvigorate calls for immigration reform in a presidential election year in which the economy has taken center stage.
From Washington to Miami to Los Angeles, immigrant rights activists demanded citizenship opportunities for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and an end to raids and deportations.
“We come here to fight for legalization. We’re people. We have rights,” said Eric Molina, an undocumented factory worker who immigrated to Zion, Ill., from Mexico.
Molina, his sister and his 13-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, were among about 15,000 people who rallied in Chicago in one of the largest demonstrations of the day.
But activists say they know it will be a challenge to push their issues to the political forefront.
Immigration reform did not resonate with voters in primary elections who overwhelmingly listed the economy as their top concern. Immigration legislation has stalled and been defeated in the Senate, and presidential candidates have not extensively addressed the issues.
Democratic presidential rivals Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supported a 2006 bill, sponsored by Republican candidate John McCain, that offered illegal immigrants legal status on conditions such as learning English. All three also have supported a border fence.
Seventh-grader Vicente Campos of Milwaukee was granted an absence from school to attend the march. He said he was concerned by stories of immigration officials separating parents and children.
“Immigrants come here to support their families in Mexico,” said Campos, 13. “They’re not all here to do crimes.”
Turnout has fallen sharply since the first rallies in 2006, when more than 1 million people — at least 400,000 in Chicago alone — clogged streets and brought downtown traffic to a standstill.
Margot Veranes, an organizer in Tucson, Ariz., — where 12,000 took to the streets last year but estimates Thursday put the crowd at about 500 — blamed the turnout on aggressive enforcement by Border Patrol and police.
“People have been stopped and deported in the last week. This is a community living in fear,” Veranes said.
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