May Day rally at Madison Square Park in Manhattan. (Photos: Maibe Gonzalez Fuentes)

About 500 people, many of them immigrants, rallied today at Madison
Square Park in Manhattan to call on the federal government to reform
the immigration system and legalize the status of about 12 million
undocumented workers currently living in the United States. The march
was the first of two to be held this afternoon in New York, with another one starting later in Union Square.

The turnout fell significantly short of the projections of
organizers who were expecting to draw at least 1,000 people. The rain
and the tough economic situation seem to have affected people’s plans.

“This is the year when we need more people out because we need to
remind President Obama that he has to keep the promise and pass
immigration reform this year, but the economic situation makes it very
difficult for people to miss a day of work,” said Luis Olavarria, 38,
an undocumented Mexican worker who took a few minutes during his lunch
break from a nearby restaurant to attend the rally.

Make the Road New York, one of the 25 organizations that
participated in the demonstration, achieved its own goal of bringing
two buses with over 100 of its members from Queens and Brooklyn to the
demonstration site.

Ecuadorian Juan Diego Castro and Argentinean Javier Cuenca at the rally.

“I think this is great, there is a lot of hope and energy here
today,” said Javier Cuenca, a 33-year-old undocumented Argentinean
immigrant. Cuenca had spent the day yesterday preparing for the rally.
At the demonstration he joined his friend Juan Diego Castro in clanking
a pot and shouting slogans in Spanish, such as “No human being is
illegal” and “We are here to stay.”

Castro, an Ecuadorian, is a 23-year-old college graduate who spent most of his life as a client of the immigration system.
He came to the United States when he was 3 years old, became a
permanent resident when he was 16, and a U.S. citizen two years ago.

“The immigration system is terrible,” he said in Spanish. “I’m here
because I think all human beings should be treated equally and benefits
shouldn’t only be for citizens.”

“The government can’t separate families”

Standing right next to them was Miguel Bonilla, a construction
worker from Veracruz, Mexico, who came to the U.S. nine years ago. He’s
undocumented but he said he wasn’t at the rally to advocate for himself.

Miguel Bonilla.

“I’m here to support a friend of mine whose husband got deported.
She’s here alone with her daughter now,” Bonilla said. “The government
can’t separate families like that.”

The rally’s agenda, as explained by Ana Maria Archila, the
co-executive director of Make the Road New York, consists of three
legislative items: changes in immigration laws that provide a path to
citizenship for undocumented workers and students; the enactment of the
Employee Free Choice Act, which will give 60 million workers the right
to unionize; and health care reform that provides affordable care to
everyone.

Fighting for the DREAM Act

Karla Lopez, 20, is a high school graduate who was brought from
Puebla, Mexico, to New York when she was 3. She will attend Kings
Borough Community College in the fall but her chances of getting a job
after graduation are scarce, as she is undocumented.

Karla Lopez.

Raised and educated in the United States, Lopez’s Spanish is great
but she obviously feels more comfortable in English. She joined La
Union, a Brooklyn-based community group that advocates for immigrant
rights, so she could join the fight for the passage of the DREAM Act.

“We are asking the government to pass the DREAM Act so youth who
have come to the U.S. before they were 16 years old and have gone
through the American school system can apply for legal residency and
get a job after college,” Lopez said.

Brett Tolley, a 26-year-old New Yorker and community organizer with
La Union, said that his organization sees many cases like Karla’s.

“Many of these youth,” he said pointing to the crowd, “have done
their entire school in the U.S., they can’t even remember their home
countries. We [Americans] talk about reducing the drop-out rate among
Latinos, but we don’t want to give them opportunities after college.
What is their motivation if they can’t have a decent job after
graduation?”