More than 300,000 people marched through the streets of Chicago for immigration rights as cheers, songs and the beat of drums drowned out the sound of cars honking in support. A seemingly endless sea of people holding signs calling for amnesty for illegal immigrants and an end to deportation and raids walked beneath a colorful array of flags chanting "we want to pay taxes" and "we want to own homes" in Spanish.
Police said the peaceful crowds are expected to swell even further ahead of a late afternoon rally in the city's downtown Grant Park.
"Hey mailman! Walk off the job and join the march!" shouted Jose Novo, 18, who was wrapped in a Mexican flag as he marched with his fellow students through an industrial neighborhood on the edge of the central business district.
"I would if I could," the mailman answered laughingly. "I would if I could."
Small businesses throughout the city were closed. Some simply posted an apology and a promise to reopen Tuesday. Others, like the La Quinta food service industry supply shop, carried large signs stating "Cerrado apoyando la marcha de 1er de Mayo" or "Closed in support of the May 1 march".
The protest began with a rally at Union Park on the city's west side where Democratic Senator Barack Obama spoke of the need to "lift people out of the shadows" onto a path towards citizenship.
"To those who think we can simply close off the borders and deport, let me say this: there is no reason to fear people who have come here for the same reason as generations of Americans," he said from a stage set up on the back of a Teamsters union truck. "They want a better future for their children."
Standing beneath a sign which read "Today we March, Tomorrow we Vote," Jose Melendez, 27, said he hopes those who gain citizenship as a result of these protests will remember which politicians stood up for immigrant rights when they go to the polls.
"Hopefully this community will have a long memory so in 20 years there won't be another (like President George W.) Bush trying to get our votes," he said.
While the bulk of the crowd was Hispanic, unions, church groups, a handful of green-clad "Celts" and a group of about 150 Korean, Chinese and Filipino students also joined the protest.
"I'm here because I believe we need to have some justice in our immigration policies," said Sister Mary Kay Flanigan, 73, a Franciscan Roman Catholic nun. "We are all immigrants. My relatives came from Ireland."
But for many in the crowd, their reasons were much more personal.
Johanna Holanda, 17, stayed away from school to attend the rally, carrying a sign saying, "We are workers not criminals". She also carried her baby son, Eric.
"I am here to fight, to help my family, and for their rights," she told AFP.
Holanda got citizenship through her father, but many of her cousins from Colombia are working illegally. Two were recently arrested while working at Chicago airport and one fears he will be deported, she said.
