la lucha continúa ... (portions x-posted)
Apr. 12th, 2006 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saavedra77Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turned out in support of immigrant rights in over 140 U.S. cities, Monday--perhaps as many as 500,000 in Washington, D.C. and 200,000 in Phoenix, AZ. The demonstrators included undocumented immigrants and their supporters, with Latinos everywhere the overwhelming majority.
Monday's marches and rallies have reportedly increased the pressure on Congress to rethink the "get-tough" immigration bill the House passed in December. Some Republicans are already regretting how the House bill may be shaping the party's image with Latinos (now the nation's largest minority), and with immigrants in general. (Pointedly, demonstrators on the National Mall on Monday chanted "Today we march; tomorrow, we vote.") Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) commented on Monday: "I think everybody sees the immigrant community as an emerging force. I think everybody is quite sensitive that they don't want to be on the wrong side, politically, of this group."
But it may not be just Monday's marchers who are driving politicians to reconsider: A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 63% of Americans support letting immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for a certain number of years apply for legal status and eventual citizenship; only 20% backed the House plan to declare undocumented immigrants felons.
Despite President Bush's own plummeting poll numbers, this is an issue on which he is closer to U.S. public opinion than many of his fellow Republicans, since Bush's proposed guest-worker program would legalize many undocumented immigrants. Some Republican Senators--notably including Brownback, John McCain, and Arlen Specter--also seem to be more in tune with popular opinion.
Then again, the Democratic Party is publicly perceived as more trustworthy on the immigration issue: in the Post-ABC poll cited above, 50% of respondents said that they trust the Democrats more than Republicans on the immigration issue; 38% felt more trust for Republicans. What's particularly interesting is that the Democrats haven't had to do anything lately to win this trust, beyond just opposing the House bill (although the Dems have a long history as "the party of immigrants," going back to the early nineteenth century ...).
Here in Seattle, about 15,000 people marched through downtown and rallied in front of the courthouse. I walked down after work to check it out, and kind of got sucked in: It was enthralling to be in the midst of thousands of people chanting "¡Sí, se puede!" I had no idea there so many Latinos in Seattle ...
Monday's marches and rallies have reportedly increased the pressure on Congress to rethink the "get-tough" immigration bill the House passed in December. Some Republicans are already regretting how the House bill may be shaping the party's image with Latinos (now the nation's largest minority), and with immigrants in general. (Pointedly, demonstrators on the National Mall on Monday chanted "Today we march; tomorrow, we vote.") Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) commented on Monday: "I think everybody sees the immigrant community as an emerging force. I think everybody is quite sensitive that they don't want to be on the wrong side, politically, of this group."
But it may not be just Monday's marchers who are driving politicians to reconsider: A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 63% of Americans support letting immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for a certain number of years apply for legal status and eventual citizenship; only 20% backed the House plan to declare undocumented immigrants felons.
Despite President Bush's own plummeting poll numbers, this is an issue on which he is closer to U.S. public opinion than many of his fellow Republicans, since Bush's proposed guest-worker program would legalize many undocumented immigrants. Some Republican Senators--notably including Brownback, John McCain, and Arlen Specter--also seem to be more in tune with popular opinion.
Then again, the Democratic Party is publicly perceived as more trustworthy on the immigration issue: in the Post-ABC poll cited above, 50% of respondents said that they trust the Democrats more than Republicans on the immigration issue; 38% felt more trust for Republicans. What's particularly interesting is that the Democrats haven't had to do anything lately to win this trust, beyond just opposing the House bill (although the Dems have a long history as "the party of immigrants," going back to the early nineteenth century ...).
Here in Seattle, about 15,000 people marched through downtown and rallied in front of the courthouse. I walked down after work to check it out, and kind of got sucked in: It was enthralling to be in the midst of thousands of people chanting "¡Sí, se puede!" I had no idea there so many Latinos in Seattle ...
