The real work force of America

The May 1 Labour Day was celebrated with a difference in the US today where all across the country hundreds of thousands of immigrants took part in street protests to send a message to Washington lawmakers considering sweeping immigration reform.

Dubbing the day as the “Day Without Immigrants”, these protesters boycott work and skip schools to show how important they have become to the Americans.

The demonstrations were organized by pro-immigrant organizations, planned to pressure lawmakers to pass immigrant-friendly legislation that might open the path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. There are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

One Hispanic protester said:

“We are the backbone of what America is, legal or illegal, it doesn’t matter…we butter each other’s bread. They need us as much as we need them.”

However there were also a small number of counter-protests. One such protester, retired Army colonel Jack Culberson said:

“You should send all of the 13 million aliens home, then you take all of the welfare recipients who are taking a free check and make them do those jobs … It’s as simple as that.”