MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US cities surprised with Hispanic massive rallies

The massive demonstrations in United States pressing for immigrants' rights have led many Hispanics, and non Hispanics, to believe the time to show their political clout has arrived but whether the rallies will become votes and representatives in Congress has to be seen.

"We Decided Not to Be Invisible Anymore" said a headline in the Tuesday edition of The Washington Post, quoting in big type the words of an organizer of the pro-immigrant march in Atlanta joined in by some 50,000 people.

As did other media, the Post played up the turnout of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators all over United States during the past few days.

"Whether the rallies spur greater participation at the ballot box by the many Latino citizens who are not registered or who vote only irregularly will not be known until later, but there seemed to be little dispute yesterday that the demonstrations were the most significant public expression yet on political issues by the Hispanic community, which is now the largest minority group in the United States," the Post said.

The New York Times also said on its front page that the demonstrations "suggested that the millions of immigrants who have quietly poured into this country over the past 16 years, most of them Hispanics, may be emerging as a potent political force".

Under the headline "Growing Effort to Influence U.S. Policy," the article said that "some Republicans in Congress say the demonstrations have also recalibrated the debate on immigration legislation, forcing lawmakers to take into account the group's political muscle." But just as the outcome of the immigration debate in Congress is unknown despite the impact of the demonstrations, these and other newspapers expressed doubts that the incipient Hispanic movement will spark greater community activism when voting time comes.

The approximately 40 million Hispanics living in the United States represent 14% of the total population. But of these only 13 million can vote and scarcely three out of every five are registered to vote. According to Pew Hispanic Center statistics, only 18% of Hispanics in the United States voted in the 2004 presidential elections.

Rodolfo de la Garza, a professor of political science at Columbia University and a recognized expert on Hispanic political behavior said that the immigration debate "will not necessarily mobilize Latinos as a political force." He recalled that many protesters are undocumented foreigners without the right to vote, and that "the relationship of Latino voters and the immigrants is not so intimate...the interests of the one are not necessarily the interests of the other." De la Garza said that this situation could change "if there is a leader who can unite these interests," or if anti-immigrants "attack" Hispanics in a general way.

Nonetheless, for some this attack on Hispanics has already begun and is what sparked the protests on a nationwide scale.

"Anybody who at this particular time says that the Latino who is not an immigrant does not feel involved is very much mistaken" said Clarissa Martinez, director of state/local public policy at the National Council of La Raza.

Martinez said that "the negativity of the (immigration) debate has made it evident that the feelings of many speaking up now are not only anti-immigrant but in many ways anti-Latino." The activist believes that Hispanic participation at the polls will increase, and thought it "very possible" that the difference will become evident in the Congressional elections next November.

"In the short term, it is very healthy that people get organized, but probably that is not going to affect the immigration debate in Washington" in legislative terms, said Louis DeSipio, who teaches political science and Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine.

"In the long term, these are the foundations of a Latino movement much more focused on integrating immigrants than on civil rights", he concluded.

Taking into account Sunday and Monday's rallies "over three million people marched in the streets of hundreds of US cities", said Nativo Lopez president of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), one of the organisers of protests in Los Angeles and all over US.

On Sunday half a million marched in Dallas, tens of thousands in San Diego, Miami and many other cities with strong Hispanic groups-

Organizers allege they have promoted marches and rallies in 136 US cities.