An estimate of 1,600 to 2,000 people came out in support of immigration reform in Downtown Los Angeles on May 1, a low turn out from previous May Day Rallies, but organizers still considered the event as a step toward the right direction.
The protestors wanted to voice their opinions and wanted to stand up for undocumented people who need citizenship.
Eighteen-year-old Cesar Vargas of San Bernardino High School came to make a stand for the rally of what his reasons were about, embracing the need to legalize immigrants and their benefits to United States.
“If immigrant people get jobs, they will provide taxes for the economy and the majority of people are immigrants,” Vargas said.
The march started on Broadway street and Olympic boulevard at 10 a.m., where protesters gathered with different organizations that all came for the same purpose.
Angeles Galindo, who educates immigrants on the issues of discrimination of low wages and health and safety regulations, helped organize part of the march for her fellow mates.
“We organize this march to remember that people before us fought for eight hours of work and eight hours rest and eight hours of to do what we want and we’re to remember that and to say, ‘yes, we can,'” Galindo said.
As demonstrators for the rally marched north along Broadway, police enforcement watched over the crowd to be sure that everything went according to safety precautions. In order to prevent the violence that occurred in 2007 rally.
People marched the streets carrying picket signs while chanting, “si se puede,” making their presence known.
“I think its very important to work toward this [immigration reform] because we are a strong community that works like everybody else, pays taxes, we’re students, workers just like anyone else. We shouldn’t be treated like criminals,” Elba Pineda, Cal State Los Angeles psychology major, said.
Ameena Qazi, Civil rights attorney for Council on American-Islamic Relations, came to the rally in her beliefs of how America should change the perspective of how it treats illegal immigrants.
“I think the way our country is treating some of the most important people to our nation is disgusting and very shameful. The country can’t survive without immigrants and it’s horrendous of how we can’t fix the problems,” Qazi said.
