Immigration rallies

The "National Day of Action" yesterday was impressive not just for the massive turnout out at the peaceful rally in Washington D.C., but also for the astonishing number of different rallies held simultaneously.

Consider, for example, that more than 1,000 people marched yesterday in Georgetown, Del.

Some perspective: the population of Georgetown is about 4,800.

Word of the gathering had evoked so much discussion among locals, who've expressed anger on talk radio programs about the immigration rallies, that Georgetown Police Chief William Topping assigned his entire staff to the event. Seventeen police officers and a handful of paramedics lined Edward Street in service cars.

So the entire Georgetown police force had good seats for the biggest demonstration of patriotic goodwill the tiny town had seen since the last Return Day. The event was marked by celebratory chanting, prayers and a sea of American flags:

The gathering was peaceful … with young children walking alongside their mothers and fathers.

… Jesus Timoteo said he left Guatemala five years ago in search of opportunity. He didn't realize how difficult life could be for some of his countrymen who have no legal documents. They can't drive, own property or travel back home, he said.

He said he came to the rally to show his support for giving all immigrants "the opportunity to live freely and move around freely without fear."

Economics aside, America needs immigrants to remind us of the idea of America — "the opportunity to live freely … without fear."

Atrios points to a post by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez in which she reminds us of the story of another Guatemalan immigrant.

Jose Gutierrez came to America illegally in the 1990s. If the immigration bills being debated in Congress had been in effect then, Gutierrez would have been declared a felon and deported. Instead, he graduated from high school, obtained permanent U.S. resident status, and enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 2002.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez died March 21, 2003, in a firefight near Umm Qasr, one of the first American servicemen killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom.