04:05 PM CDT on Monday, April 10, 2006

By QUITA CULPEPPER / KVUE News

Slideshow of images

KVUE News

Today's UT rally was one of dozens organized across the country.

Monday has been declared the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice, and hundreds of University of Texas students have organized a rally to let Austin know how they feel about possible changes to U.S. immigration laws.

The students hope local high school students will walk out of class and show up at the event as well. Last week some of the UT representatives visited local high schools, inviting students to walk out and join their cause.

In the past couple of weeks, hundreds of high school students from Austin, Bastrop and other Central Texas towns have walked out of class, staging their own protests.

During one such walkout, some students in Round Rock were ticketed.

An Austin city ordinance prevents AISD students from being ticketed, but AISD officials have said it will issue unexcused absences to students that take part.

Organizers say they want as many people as possible to send out the call for immigration reform that would legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented workers.

"We want to tell the public the facts on immigration... the real contributions that immigrants -- undocumented and not -- bring to this country," said said Rebecca Acuna, UT rally organizer. "We also want to tell our senators that we are watching. We're watching exactly what they say and what they do in committee."

Students began gathering at the MLK statues on the UT campus around 11 a.m. The rally runs to 2 p.m. Afterwards they will join a city march and rally at the State Capitol, which starts at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.

"We want real, comprehensive solutions, not just more funding for border security. We're seeing that does not work," Acuna said. "We want a path to legalization -- a reasonable path to legalization for those here. Not an amnesty, but one where people will pay fines, back tazes, medical exams and get in line behind those waiting. We don't want bills that legalize exploitation by having some sort of guest worker program that says you can come and work for three years and after that you can go back."

Organizers don't want the march to become rowdy or violent. They've asked participants to wear white for peace.

AP

U.S. and Mexican flags were on display at a protest rally in Tyler, Texas on Monday morning.

Across the country

Tens of thousands of immigrants spilled into the streets of Atlanta and other cities Monday in a national day of action billed as a "campaign for immigrants' dignity."

Rallies were planned for Houston, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso in Texas; hundreds attended a march in Tyler on Monday morning.

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered at lawmakers' offices to make their voices heard as Congress considers immigration reforms.

"We all know pay is not the same everywhere and lot of people won't work for the minimum here, so if they won't take the job, what's the problem?" said 47-year-old Jose Salazar, who joined about 100 people outside Sen. Arlen Specter's Pittsburgh office.

In Atlanta, police estimated at least 50,000 people, many in white T-shirts and waving signs and American flags, joined a two-mile march from a largely immigrant neighborhood.

The Georgia protesters had two targets: the congress members weighing immigration reform and state legislation now awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature that would require adults seeking many state-administered benefits to prove they are in the U.S. legally.

Nineth Castillo, a 26-year-old waitress from Guatemala who joined the Atlanta march, said she has lived in the United States for 11 years "without a scrap of paper."

Asked whether she was afraid to parade her undocumented status in front of a massive police presence, she laughed and said: "Why? They kick us out, we're coming back tomorrow."

Elsa Rodriguez, 25, talked about the baby girl she expected to give birth to in about three months.

"This is why I had to be here," she said. "She's going to be a U.S. citizen and I'm here illegal?"

Hundreds of Latinos in North Carolina prepared to skip work or boycott all purchases on Monday to demonstrate the financial impact of the Latino community on area businesses. In Charlotte, some employees planned to skip work, including some with the blessing of their Latino bosses.

"We're hoping that employers stop to consider what this is all about," organizer Adriana Galvez said. "That if you need people here to do the work, to buy, then give them a legal channel to get here."

In Dallas, where a march Sunday drew between 350,000 and 500,000 people, activists also were urging immigrants to showcase their spending power by not buying anything during an economic boycott. Rallies also were planned Monday in Houston, El Paso and Austin.

Several thousand people gathered in Philadelphia, including Inocente Gonzalez, 19, an illegal immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, who is living and attending high school in Vineland N.J. and wants to become a doctor.

"I want to stay here to continue with my studies," said Gonzalez, who was wearing a sombrero and a Mexican flag. "We have a voice. We have to stay here because this country needs us."

An estimated 3,000 people demonstrated in Garden City, Kan., a farming community in the southwest corner of the state that counts fewer than 30,000 residents.

Several hundred turned out in South Bend, Ind., and in Lexington, Ky., where they waved signs that read: "We were all immigrants once," and "We are not terrorists."

The demonstrations followed a day of rallies in 10 states, including up to 500,000 people in Dallas, 50,000 in San Diego, and 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Dozens of rallies and student walkouts, many of them organized by spanish-language radio DJ's over the past few weeks, have been held in cities around the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York.

With an overhaul of immigration law stalled in Congress, the demonstrators have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States.

The rallies have also drawn counter-demonstrations.

In Salt Lake City, Jerry Owens, 59, a Navy veteran from Midway wearing a blue Minuteman T-shirt and camouflage pants, held a yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

"I think it's real sad because these people are really saying it's OK to be illegal aliens," Owens said. "What Americans are saying is 'Yes, come here. But come here legally.' And I think that's the big problem."

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The Associated Press and WFAA.com contributed to this report