Immigration Celebration Becomes Protest
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/RICH PEDRONCELLI

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Immigration rights supporters marched Monday from Washington's Hispanic neighborhoods past the White House in an event they had hoped would be a celebration of a bill to put illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship.

After that measure collapsed in the Senate last week, the march turned into a protest against a House alternative that would instead make illegal immigrants felons.

In the House, Republicans don't appear to be wavering from their bill which is focused on tightening the U.S.-Mexican border with 700 miles of fencing and redefining the illegal immigrants already in the country as felons.

"You have to remember, illegal aliens are just that, illegal," House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program. "And until we begin to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws, I don't think we ought to be talking about a more comprehensive approach."

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Assault underscores tension as Congress weighs immigration reform
April 10, 2006

PORTLAND, Maine --Dozens of people pressing for rights for illegal immigrants gathered for a peaceful demonstration on Monday just minutes after a counter-protestor was bloodied by a teenager who hid his face with a bandanna.

The attacker, described as a Hispanic teenager, went after one of three white people carrying signs arguing that illegals have no rights, police said.

As the teen fled, the victim dropped to the pavement after being hit with something heavy that the teen had carried, possibly in a sock or a bandanna, said Portland Police Sgt. Robin Gauvin. There were no arrests as of late afternoon.