PHOENIX — More than 100,000 people marched through Phoenix on Monday to demand federal immigration legislation to create a path to citizenship for the estimated 500,000 people not legally in Arizona.
The march turnout exceeded estimates by the Somos America organizers. Exact counts were difficult to get because some people began leaving the state Capitol even as more continued to arrive.
But Scott Phelps, an aide to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, noted it took three hours for marchers to file past City Hall.
Organizers were mostly successful in their pleas to have marchers leave their Mexican flags at home and instead bring only the Stars and Stripes. A prior, less-planned march last month on the Phoenix offices of U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl drew some backlash due to the presence of Mexican flags.
The central message, delivered in both English and Spanish, was that marchers consider those here illegally to be part of this country. Both in signs and speeches, the official theme of Somos America — "We Are America" — showed up again and again.
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As to the size of the march, Phoenix police said the only number that they, the Mayor's Office and organizers could agree on was more than 100,000. But Lydia Guzman, one of the Somos America organizers, said the numbers may have hit 200,000 or more.
Less clear is what percentage of those marching were in this country illegally.
Elias Bermudez, one of the organizers, put the figure at upward of 60 percent.
"Our message was that we wanted the undocumented to come out," he said. "We wanted them to show their faces, come out of the shadows."
But Alfredo Gutierrez, who also was involved in planning the event, said his impression was that it was no more than a third. Gutierrez, a former state senator and one-time gubernatorial hopeful, said most people without documents remain hesitant to come into the spotlight, even for a march like the one Monday.
While the stated purpose of the march, one of more than 100 nationwide, was focused on Congress, local politicians and activists used the opportunity to try to galvanize the Hispanic community with the goal of revamping politics in Arizona. And the method of achieving that goal was through a simultaneous voter-registration drive.
"Today we march, tomorrow we vote," said Guzman.
"We shall arm ourselves," added Gutierrez.
"In America, the only weapon that counts is the vote," he continued. Gutierrez said those who are eligible to vote must do so to "defeat those who humiliate us and defend those who stand with us."
