The Faces of Immigration - Solidarity March for the Legalization of Illegal Immigrants March 30, 2006 Written by Wendy R. Williams Photographed by Angelo Rivera

On March 30, 2006, rallies were held all over the United States to protest the proposed law that would make illegal immigration or helping an illegal immigrant a crime. People from many nations poured into the streets in protest and also in support of the McCain-Kennedy bill, that would increase border control and enforcement but also allow the eleven million undocumented immigrants in the country to register, pay a fine, and meet several other requirements to achieve legal resident status and citizenship.

I am Irish and according to my reading of American history, the privileged few who had already arrived were not thrilled to see my ancestors coming ashore, driven to immigrate because they were starving in the potato famine. So to all who wish to come here in search of a better life, I say, "Welcome! Let me give you a hand." Our polyglot of cultures is exactly what makes us who we are and gives us the right to call ourselves the Land of the Free.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Councilman Miguel Martinez