Marchers Assail Bias Against Immigrants

Thousands of Latinos marched through Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday in a tightly organized counterattack on what participants called a growing sentiment in California and the nation against immigrants--both legal and illegal.

At a time when many legislators in California and elsewhere say illegal immigration is draining government treasuries, the marchers--estimated at 8,000 to 25,000--voiced the hope that their effort would galvanize a movement to defend the new immigrants who have altered the nation’s demographic makeup.

Protesters in the march, one of Los Angeles’ largest demonstrations in recent years, emphasized the contributions of legal and unlawful newcomers in paying taxes, performing low-wage jobs, launching businesses and revitalizing inner-city communities from Los Angeles to New York. They pledged to reverse what they acknowledged is a legislative tide against immigration and to avert further defeats in the political and legislative arenas.

“We’re here to put an end to the big lie propagated by all those who use immigrants for political expediency,” said Roberto Lovato, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in the city’s Pico-Union district, a densely populated immigrant enclave west of Downtown. “This is a civil rights movement for the 1990s,” Lovato said.

“I came here to show support for my people,” said Maria Rodriguez, 40, a Mexican citizen who was accompanied by her 2- and 5-year-old sons.

Although police estimated that 8,000 made the well-coordinated, two-mile trek up Broadway, which culminated in a rally on the west steps of City Hall, organizers said 25,000 took part. Latino groups, immigrant advocates and Spanish-language media had promoted the march in recent weeks.

Police reported no arrests and no major disturbances.

A bulging line of marchers, many waving Mexican and Salvadoran flags and led by a red-lettered banner reading “Stop Racist Attacks Against Immigrants,” filled 10 blocks along Broadway, where ground-level stores cater to Latino shoppers. Festive participants hoisted colorful placards and banners, their rhythmic chants echoing off the grimy facades of once-elegant office buildings lining the boulevard. A few men donned broad-brimmed Mexican sombreros. A band from Tijuana, its members outfitted in green fatigues, provided a steady drumbeat of marching music.

The principal target of the march was Gov. Pete Wilson, who has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, using ominous television advertisements showing people rushing across the U.S.-Mexico border. Banners and slogans excoriated the governor, whose stuffed figure was burned in effigy in front of City Hall.

Although Wilson and others seeking to limit immigrants have attempted to distinguish between their opposition to unlawful immigration and their support of regulated legal immigration, marchers contended that the governor and his allies are fomenting antipathy against all immigrants.

“The backlash against immigrants becomes anti-Latino sentiment,” said Susan Alva, staff attorney with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Many banners said: “No Human Being Is Illegal.”

“The politicians are happy to have my people here working, but they don’t want us to have any rights,” said Jasmin Aguilar, a U.S.-born college student and daughter of immigrants who held up an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the revered Roman Catholic patroness of Mexico and Latin America.

Participants included immigrants and U.S. natives, the documented and undocumented, the elderly and young. Activists, politicians, clerics and ordinary working people were part of the mix. The prevalent mood was one of ethnic pride spiced with outrage at what many view as a racially motivated assault.

“The church cannot remain silent while its people are made victims,” said Father Vicente Lopez of St. Rafael’s Roman Catholic Church in South-Central Los Angeles, one of four Carmelite priests in flowing brown cassocks who marched at the head of the protest.

The orderly marchers took their cues from several dozen organizers with bullhorns who guided the entourage. It took nearly an hour for the throng to fill City Hall’s park and adjoining 1st Street.

Although this was largely a Latino event--reflecting Latinos’ position as the largest immigrant population in California--speakers also voiced support for Haitian refugees who have been denied entry to U.S. territory. And Asian Americans also joined in assailing what many characterized as making immigrants the scapegoat for the nation’s many woes.

“We people of color are being blamed for a socioeconomic crisis in this country,” said Fernando Fernando, a representative of Los Angeles’ large Filipino American community, who was among the many speakers addressing the rally.

Many urged immigrants to sign up for citizenship, a step strongly nationalistic Mexican immigrants have traditionally been hesitant to take. U.S. authorities have vowed to bolster citizenship programs in an effort to ease an expected crush of applications. More than 3 million foreigners--more than half living in California--obtained legal residency via the federal amnesty initiative of 1987-88; most are only now becoming eligible for citizenship.

“We must become citizens and vote so that our voices can be heard,” said Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America.

Illustrating the anti-Wilson sentiment, vendors hawked T-shirts that featured the governor with his neck in a noose. One person carried a figure of a skeleton hung, crucifix-style, from crossing M-16 rifles. It bore a banner stating: “Made by Wilson.”

Saturday’s march, while garnering media attention, is unlikely to alter the increasingly heated public debate about immigration, according to those seeking reductions on immigration. Washington and Sacramento are awash in proposed bills that would cut legal entries and exclude benefits for those who are in the United States illegally.

“It is quite clear that the American people feel there is too much immigration,” said Ira Mehlman, Los Angeles representative for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The protest comes as a citizens group is pushing an initiative--probably for the November ballot--that would deny public education and most health care to California’s large undocumented population. An initiative strategist said the march would paradoxically boost the cause, publicizing efforts to reduce illegal immigration.

“I would advise ‘em to have a march every month,” said Harold Ezell, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service official who is one of the initiative’s sponsors.

Nevertheless, organizers say they plan to schedule similar demonstrations, including at least one more before the November election, which some political observers see as a referendum of sorts on immigration.

Saturday’s event was sponsored by a statewide network of civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, and the Central American Refugee Center and One Stop Immigration. Among the participants were Councilmen Mike Hernandez and Richard Alatorre.

Simultaneous protests were held in Sacramento, San Diego, Fresno, San Jose and Santa Maria.

Some of the loudest applause in the Los Angeles rally erupted as speakers called for a 1996 march on Washington as a national demonstration of support for Latino rights. Organizers of Saturday’s event compared the idea to the 1963 march on Washington, and said such a demonstration could illuminate the plight of immigrants, particularly those from Latin America.

Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this story.