Today’s immigration reform rally a milestone

Student activists marching for immigration reform today in Washington, D.C. (Photo: M. Ballvé)

Immigration had its thunder stolen by health care in Washington, D.C. today. The nation’s capital was the focus of a lot of goings on for a Sunday, and health care got most of the attention, with President Obama’s reform plan heading toward passage. But the immigration rally on the National Mall, which drew some 200,000 immigrants and their supporters, was a big deal and deserved far more attention than it got. As some commentators have already noted, far smaller rallies and protests often get far more notice.

The crowd’s chanting could be heard all around the district’s downtown.

If nothing less, the rally showed that immigrant communities are not going to let go of their demand for reform. I was in Washington to cover the event today and published an analysis of the rally over at New America Media. Here’s the top of the story:

Today’s Washington, D.C. immigration rally was a milestone in the battle for immigrant rights.

Whatever its ultimate impact on immigration politics this year, the rally served to galvanize a new cohort of immigrant activists, especially young people and recent immigrants.

Much of the nation’s attention was elsewhere today, on the health care debate taking place simultaneously in Congress. That’s despite the fact that turnout at the rally, estimated at some 200,000 people, exceeded even organizers’ expectations.

But the impassioned speeches on the National Mall, in front of an enthused crowd of immigrants and their supporters, were intended not just for the ears of lawmakers.

They were also meant to keep morale high in what is a solidifying mass movement for immigration reform rooted in immigrant communities nationwide.