I for Immigration

Yesterday, 500,000 people flooded downtown LA for the rally for immigrants' rights. That figure, a half million, comes from police, who typically provide conservative crowd estimates; others suggest there were even more. Speakers included DJ Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, who helped spread the word over the airwaves, Archibishop Mahoney and Mayor Villaraigosa, who said:

"We are workers, not criminals. We work hard. We play by the rules. We pay our taxes. And we want America to take us into account." (audio will be available here later today)

The House immigration bill, which is set to be discussed in the Senate this week, would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, require churches to check the legal status of people they help, and erect fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. Opponents say that the bill is about xenophobia, not terrorism.

"When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center? Who do you think built the World Trade Center?" 22-yearold David Gonzalez told the AP.

We wish we'd been there. Blogging.la's Dave Bullock was; he took the photo above.