Immigrants take to streets for 'day of action'

ATLANTA -- 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."\nIn 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.\n"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.\nIn 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.\nThe Georgia protesters had two targets -- Congress members weighing immigration reform and the state legislation awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature that would require adults seeking many state-administered benefits to prove they are in the United States legally.\nNineth 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."\nAsked 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."\nElsa Rodriguez, 25, talked about the baby girl she expected to give birth to in about three months.\n"This is why I had to be here," she said. "She's going to be a U.S. citizen and I'm here illegal?"\nHundreds of Latinos in North Carolina prepared to skip work or boycott all purchases 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.\n"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."\nIn 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.\nSeveral 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.\n"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."\nAn estimated 3,000 people demonstrated in Garden City, Kan., a farming community in the southwest corner of the state with fewer than 30,000 residents.\nSeveral hundred turned out in South Bend and in Lexington, Ky., where they waved signs that read: "We were all immigrants once," and "We are not terrorists."\nThe 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 organized by Spanish-language radio DJ's -- have been held in cities around the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York.\nWith 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.\nThe rallies have also drawn counter-demonstrations.\nIn 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.\n"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."\nAssociated Press writers Michael Cowden in Pittsburgh, Jeff McMurray in Lexington, Ky., and Anabelle Garay in Dallas contributed to this report.