Rally for Immigrant Rights at Texas Captiol

Hundreds rally for rights of illegal immigrants

Proposed state legislation is discriminatory, crowds say.

By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Several hundred people protested outside the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, saying proposed legislation would discriminate against illegal immigrants by denying them education and health care.

"There's a hypocrisy that says, 'We want you to come; we want you to work cheaply, but we don't want to give you any rights,' " state Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, told the crowd.

Lawmakers have filed more than three dozen proposals focusing on illegal immigrants and trying to lessen the burden they put on social services. Texas has an estimated 1.5 million illegal immigrants.

In April 2006, an estimated 12,000 people marched up Congress Avenue in one of the largest civil demonstrations in the city's history to protest proposed federal legislation that would have made it a felony to be in the country illegally. The U.S. House proposal died, as did other congressional efforts to overhaul immigration laws.

Cities and states are increasing efforts to pass laws addressing illegal immigration.

Noe Lemus, an Austin cafeteria worker who was holding an American flag at the rally Tuesday, said that all illegal immigrants in the United States should be granted legal status.

Che Lopez, who came from San Antonio for the rally and march, said he was urging all workers to go on strike May 1 for International Workers' Day.

Lopez said he is a co-director of Southwest Workers Union, which campaigns for labor rights.

"Without the working class, the system will not function," Lopez said.