The Boston rally was one of many occurring in major American cities today, calling for workers' rights and support for more than 11 million undocumented workers who live in America.

Some estimates put the number of undocumented workers in America closer to 20 million.

Rallies occurred in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, San Diego, Miami, Washington D.C., and in more than fifty other cities across the nation.

The May Day protests have been called "A Day Without Immigrants" by many who want to show how vital undocumented workers are for the American economy. Without these undocumented immigrants, protesters said today, the economy would shut down. Indeed, as hundreds of thousands of Latino/a workers skipped work today and marched in the streets, businesses and organizations felt the absence of these workers.

Surrounded by thousands of people in Boston Common, in which there were signs reading "No Human Being is Illegal" and "Rights have no Borders," I heard an announcement made from the podium saying that the Los Angeles airport, LAX, had to be shut down today because of the worker walk-outs. Goya Foods suspended its distribution activities for the day, and Tyson Foods was forced to close at least fifteen of its plants. Perdue Farms also closed eight of its fourteen chicken plants, and many other businesses suffered from the absence of the workers, including some city bus lines.

In Boston, support seemed to come from people of all walks of life and nationalities. Several countries' flags waved in the crowd: Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, Brasil, Dominican Republic, and Columbia. But there were also American flags—including the original 1776 flag, denoting the original 13 Colonies.

Irish flags, recalled the huge number of Irish immigrants who came to America—and Boston in particular—in previous generations. The Irish are still arriving.

I saw Asians, Latinos, Arabs, Israelis, Sudanese, Panamanians, Anglos, Hondurans, Colombians, and West Africans standing together and chanting, "im-mi-gra-tion built this na-tion!" Among those chanting today were representatives from the Boston Chinatown Resident Association, the National Lawyers Guild, the Boston School of Bus Drivers, and the Chinese Progressive Association.

I saw signs which read, "Immigrants are Workers, not Criminals," "Equal Work, Equal Pay," "Reforma Migratoria Para Una Sociedad Justa," "Stop Racist Laws," "Amnistia Para Todos," "Workers' Rights Are Human Rights," "People Who Want to Work for a Living are not criminals," and "Today We March... Tomorrow We Vote."

Some in the crowd criticized President George W. Bush's stance on immigration reform by invoking issues surrounding the Iraq War. One sign displayed pictures of George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Above the pictures were the words, "wanted for illegally crossing borders." Another sign said, "The U.S. Gov't has Broken More Laws Than Undocumented Workers Have."

Recently a Boston Globe headline announced, "Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws." The article begins, saying, "President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution."

It would seem that average undocumented workers in the United States may have followed the law more closely than President Bush.

One speaker at Boston's rally said openly today that the current U.S. immigration policy is "cruel and twisted," and that politicians here have endorsed a system that "doesn't care about humanity." These were particularly moving and powerful words to hear. And some in the United States are already calling this the new Civil Rights Movement of our time.

As I walked away from today's rally, I could hear a unified voice hovering above Boston Common: "Si, se puede!"