Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched in US cities yesterday to demand their rights in a powerful show of discontent.
The national day of protest, the most widespread in a series of rallies that some have compared to the 1960s civil rights movement, was provoked by legislation in Congress that would turn millions of illegal immigrants into criminals and fence off sections of the US border with Mexico.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy
Organised by a loose coalition of mostly Hispanic groups, the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants working in the shadows of the world's largest economy have found their political voice in recent months.
Organisers estimated that more than 100,000 people rallied in Manhattan, turning Broadway into a colourful sea of American and foreign flags.
Thousands marched through Washington, where the Senate last week reached an impasse on a compromise plan that would open the way to citizenship for most illegal immigrants.
The House of Representatives has already passed a much harsher bill, mainly with Republican votes, focusing on tightening the border with Mexico and making criminals of illegal immigrants and punishing those who employ or help them.
Many protesters wore white T-shirts symbolising peaceful protest and held banners declaring: "We are America".
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy likened the recent protests that have swept the country to the drive for civil rights by black Americans a half century ago.
"Dr Martin Luther King Jr. called on the nation to let freedom ring," Mr Kennedy told the Washington rally. "It is time for Americans to lift their voices once again - this time in pride for our immigrant past and in support of our immigrant future."
In Atlanta, one of more than 60 cities where rallies were held, police said 40,000 people flooded the streets. In Phoenix, about 100,000 turned out. About 10,000 singing and chanting protesters marched through Boston and about 8,000 rallied in Omaha, Nebraska.
In Los Angeles, the city with the world's second-largest Mexican population after Mexico City, organisers said 5,000 turned out for candlelight vigil at dusk.