Los Angeles gears up for mass immigration demonstrations

Tens of thousands of people are expected at mass rallies in Los Angeles and other Southern California cities on Monday as organizers urge people to skip work and school to call for legislation giving citizenship to millions of undocumented workers.

Demonstrations are planned in downtown Los Angeles and other areas here as part of a nationwide boycott of schools and businesses organized by pro-immigrant rights groups to call for what they consider fair reform of immigration laws.

A half-million people, mostly Latino immigrants and their supporters, rallied outside the Los Angeles City Hall five weeks ago to protest a bill that would toughen immigration laws and make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant.

Nativo Lopez, an organizer with the March 25 Coalition, said the boycott is about disengaging from the system.

"We've unequivocally called on all families to participate in the 'Great American Boycott' and the marches and that translates into not going to work, not going to school, not shopping and not selling," Lopez said Friday.

"In short, non-cooperation with the system, disengaging with the system," he added. "We're redoubling our efforts to have successful events throughout California and throughout the country."

But city and school leaders, and the "We are America" coalition, which supported the large demonstration in March, have urged students to stay in school and only participate in late-afternoon demonstrations.

Some 25,000 students in Los Angeles walked out of school to rally at City Hall and march through streets and freeways to protest a bill that would crack down on employers hiring illegal workers and people smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and local educational officials have urged students to stay in school Monday.

"Our students can't afford to miss school, our schools can't afford missing students, and our state can't afford to rest for one day until we close the gap in achievement that threatens the futures of many of our immigrant students," said Jach O'Connell, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

It is difficult to know how much undocumented workers add and cost the economy of the Los Angeles area, which has one of the largest immigrant populations in the United States, said Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

"It's hard to say what they add to the economy because in many cases undocumenteds blend in," he said. "They can access false documentation so they can get hired by mainstream companies, and in many cases they're doing contract-type labor."

It is too soon to tell what Monday's boycott will do to Los Angeles' economy, which generates some 1.2 billion dollars a day, Kyser said.

Source: Xinhua