A Day Without Immigrants was the theme of Monday's immigration rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Roughly 1,000 people marched up State Street to promote a change in national immigration policies.
The rally in Madison was one of many that took place throughout the nation.
As part of the rallies, many Hispanic workers did not report to their jobs. Madison's Frida's Restaurant, 117 State St., did not open due to lack of workers and over two thirds of the Hispanic students at Cherokee Middle School, 4301 Cherokee Dr., were absent.
For many, the rallies have brought the immigration debate from a national issue to a personal and local level.
Generally what we have seen is that the human face of immigration has come to the forefront of the debate,\ Ald. Austin King, District 8, said. ""This has been a tremendous change from the Republicans talking about illegals. Now Americans are talking about their neighbors.""
Dane County Board Supervisor Ashok Kumar, who participated in the rally, described an optimistic crowd. He said the goal of the rallies across America was to alter current stances on immigration at the national level.
""All the actions and the walkouts in L.A. and all around the country have proven that people power really changes legislators' minds,"" Kumar said. ""People are working in this country, they should be paid decent wages, allowed to organize and allowed citizenship.""
According to Kumar, the mass demonstrations signified a call for equality on the part of Hispanic immigrants.
""People have the right to demand from their elected officials not to be discriminated against,"" Kumar said.
UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs said there are three different approaches that politicians have taken on immigration.
The first is fully enforcing the law on the United States-Mexico border. The second is leaving the border wide open to immigration. The third, Downs said, is President Bush's proposal to accommodate those who are here but setting certain conditions of citizenship.
""A lot of politicians have been hoping it would go away,"" Downs said of the immigration issue. ""But it is going to be a permanent part of our politics from now on.""
Even Republicans, who have traditionally been opposed to lax immigration laws, have altered their stances on immigration in recent months.
""There is a vast array of opinions,"" said Erica Christianson, chair of the UW-Madison College Republicans. ""A lot of people think that there are different solutions to the problem.""
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