Wow. Well this is what a real grass roots mass movement looks like folks... tens of thousands are pouring into the street today as a preview for what's going to happen on the big day tommorrow.
UPDATE (thanks edalex): "The local TV station (Fox 4) just said that police estimates are in the area of 500,000 people marching today for immigrant reform. This is not something that 'broke out' as the diary suggests. This was planned in advance."
--clipped from edalex's comment below
Some news reports about the rallies breaking out today:
"Thousands of immigration marchers gathering in downtown Salt Lake" Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
"Tens of thousands turn out for Dallas immigration march" Star-Telegram, Texas
"Mass March to call for Fair Immigration" NBCSanDiego.com
"Anti-Immigration Group Leader Believes March Could be 'Dangerous'" 620ktar.com Arizona (hahaha)
"Immigration Rights Rallies Fill Streets" CBS reports that:
Tens of thousands of people jammed the streets of downtown Dallas Sunday afternoon to march for changes in immigration law.
Thousands of people are expected to march to the Minnesota Capitol this afternoon in support of immigrant rights. Dozens of buses have been chartered to carry immigrants and supporters to the St. Paul event, which is being organized by religious, labor and community groups.
Immigrants and their supporters are also gathering in Des Moines, Iowa.
Bloomberg is estimating 2 MILLION to demonstrate tommorrow:
U.S. House Immigration Bill May Draw 2 Mln in Rallies (Update1)
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Two million people are expected to attend one of 136 rallies tomorrow to show support for the U.S. Hispanic community, which is protesting an immigration reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, organizers said.
The demonstrations, which started today in Dallas-Fort Worth with an estimated 100,000 gathered, will culminate Monday in ``The National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice.'' The largest rallies are expected in New York and Washington, and 20 events are scheduled in California alone.
``We just want to show our power,'' said Juan Carlos Ruiz, general coordinator for the National Capital Immigration Coalition, in a phone interview from Washington. ``Latinos are known for being late and they say we cannot work together. We needed to show Congress we could organize ourselves.''
The coalition, representing immigrant, labor, faith, civil rights and business groups, opposes House Bill 4437 that focuses on border security and backs the construction of 700 miles of border fencing, without making provisions for guest workers or undocumented immigrants.
``Our goal is to stop anti-immigrant legislation from becoming law and to pass real comprehensive immigration reform that provides a clear path to citizenship, unites families and ensures workplace and civil rights protections for all,'' the coalition said on its Web site.
For info on April 10 Marches in your area click here.
UPDATE #1
BTW, if you like this diary and this subject don't forget to recommend it up so it doesn't fall off DKOS.
Gracias.