May Day Rallies: Immigration Reform Rallies Draw Tens Of Thousands

AP News reports that tens of thousands of people are expected to rally today in support of immigration reform in dozens of cities around the country. The rallies are taking place on May 1^st - also known as May Day, a holiday commemorating the international labor movement - "to celebrate May Day as a day of justice for all, and to call on immigration reform and citizenship this year", according to Reform Immigration for America, which helped organize the rallies.

The size of the rallies was not expected to be quite as big as those of pro-reform demonstrations in 2006 and 2007, when the last serious attempts were made to reform the nation's immigration laws. Many pro-immigrant groups and their pro-reform allies felt their opponents' strategy of targeting congressional offices with phone calls and faxes at the behest of conservative talk-radio hosts had bested them. It appears that rally organizers this year have largely changed tack, focusing on calling and writing members of Congress, especially the most outspoken of them. One such effort targeting Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah - who was quoted on Sunday by the Salt Lake Tribune as expressing his unequivocal support for immediate legislation action - was said to have brought 100 calls of thanks per day to his offices last week.

CBS Los Angeles reported that in rallies there, protestors would demand an end to deportations. The city was expecting the biggest turnout in the country, with the rallies expected to cause traffic headaches and changes in bus routes for the most of the day. Other cities with the biggest turnouts would be New York, Chicago and Milwaukee.

At a rally in Salem, Oregon, Governor Gov. John Kitzhaber said he planned to sign legislation which would allow undocumented immigrants to receive drivers' licenses. On Monday, Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado signed Senate Bill 33 - or the ASSET bill - into law, marking the end of a decade-long effort to provide in-state tuition rates to undocumented college students.

May Day, or International Workers' Day, has been adopted in recent times by advocates for immigrants' rights, especially for Latino immigrants. It grew in force in the second half of the 19^th century as a holiday meant to generate support for an eight-hour workday, a cause which became increasingly common among labor unions of the time. It has historically had close ties with movements advocating for immigrants' rights.

"It was mostly immigrants who led the first May Day movement for the 8 hour day. Now a new generation of immigrant workers have revitalized and brought May Day back to life," María Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told the Huffington Post.