The message has grown from more than just opposition to house bill HR4437 and senate bill SB2611 to new demands. Among these new demands are:

1. A moratorium on all deportations
2. An immediate end to all deportations and raids.
3. Full and immediate legalization without compromises

One of the central issues is the division of families when the children of immigrants who are born in the US and have US citizenship by birthright are separated from their parents by forced deportations. This is the case of Elvira Arellano and her son Saul who are currently resisting deportation by seeking sanctuary in a church in Chicago. In recognition of this the march was dedicated to immigrant women and their children everywhere who are facing the same threat.

The March 25 Coalition spokespeople repeatedly said that at least hundreds of thousands and maybe even 1,000,000 people would attend Saturday's rally, which was way, way, way out of whack with reality. I'd say about 2,000, maybe 3,000 people were there. At the end of the rally a mere 50 or 60 people remained.

These people have no base in immigrant communities and do no real outreach to them. The are sectarian and have not attempted to reach out to groups who really do mass work well. Nice job. Deflating and demoralizing many thousands of people is your legacy today.

Although not expected to be as large as the marches of March 25th and May 1st yesterday’s turnout was far below expectations.

It could be due to a lack of promotion or perhaps a long weekend is not the best timing for a demonstration with most people on Summer holiday. There are also rumors of infighting within the March 25 Coalition that are said to have distracted from the task of mobilizing for the march.

What ever the reason Saturday’s march was small when compared the marches earlier this year.

May Day 2004: Troqueros shut down the state.
May Day 2005: we flopped.
May Day 2006: Troqueros shut down the southwest.

The point is that shit happens. But even the flops are important as to continuity and have symbolic importance. Look forward to

May Day 2007!!!!!

It is the liberal/reformist politics of capitalist electoralism that has again demobilized the masses. Why march in the streets when your leadership has told you that what matters and will make the real difference is voting. What is needed is a political fight against the trade union mis leaders and liberal/reformist groups. A fight that counter poses the road of class struggle to the dead end of capitalist pressure politics.

They made the March 25th and May 1st. not the leadership of the coalitions think about that? Also, why they didnt contact other nationalities DJ i.e. asian, arabs, etc... I know there were a handful like the activist within the asian, arabs,etc communities. it probably could have been bigger like 5 to 10 millions on the streets. The leadships have big egos. They cant produce the numbers anymore.