By N.C. Aizenman and Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 9, 2006

In April, Jose Martinez was among the giddiest participants in a pro-immigration rally that attracted more than 100,000 demonstrators to the Mall.

Spurred by promotions on his favorite Spanish radio program, the Salvadoran-born mechanic persuaded nearly every co-worker at his Southeast Washington auto repair shop to march with him. He brought along T-shirts emblazoned with American flags for his friends to wear. And he vowed to treasure his own shirt forever "as a memory of this day."

But Thursday afternoon, while immigrants and their supporters were convening on the Mall for a reprise of the April 10 rally, Martinez, 43, was back in the auto shop, working out the dents in the door of a silver Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

"No, I'm not going. I'm not motivated this time," said Martinez, who is a legal permanent resident but who has friends in the country illegally. "I really expected a change to the immigration law by now, but we haven't gained anything since [the spring]. . . . All I've seen is an increase in the arrests of immigrants."

It was a refrain repeated across the Washington region as immigrants sought to explain how a demonstration that organizers had predicted would mobilize hundreds of thousands fizzled into a gathering of less than 5,000 demonstrators, most from out of town. Rallies in other cities this week drew similar numbers.

Many locals who did participate Thursday appeared to be union members bused in by their leaders.

Maya Bhullar, who, like many in the crowd, wore the orange cap of the Service Employees International Union, speculated that fewer people might have shown up because a restrictive immigration bill that loomed large in the spring had stalled after winning House approval.

That legislation, which, among other measures, would make it a felony to be in the country illegally or to assist illegal immigrants, alarmed many previously apolitical immigrants. They appeared by the hundreds of thousands at rallies in cities across the country in the spring.

"I don't think people's anger has died down," said Bhullar, 31, who is a U.S. citizen of Indian descent and lives in Northwest Washington. "[But] last time our message was so much about the [House] bill."

Meanwhile, a Senate bill that would permit illegal immigrants to legalize their status after paying a fine also stalled, causing some immigrants to lose faith in rallies as engines of change.

"At the beginning, I thought [demonstrating] was positive," said Enrique Torres, 26, an Arlington resident who chose to work rather than attend the rally Thursday. "Then I realized they were increasing deportations. So it's been negative, too."

The subdued mood also seemed to have affected local Spanish-language radio shows, which had played a pivotal role in urging listeners to go to the rally in April.

"Last time, I heard about the rally everywhere -- even on TV," said Rene Garcia, 22, a Mexican construction worker living in Falls Church who attended the demonstration Thursday. "For this rally, I didn't even hear about it on the radio. I don't know what happened."

Michael Ahn Paarlsberg, 26, a Korean American living in Fairfax, said there was little promotion in the Asian media, despite outreach efforts by organizers that yielded at least a few articles about the rally in Korean-language newspapers.

Rally organizers said they were satisfied with the turnout, which they estimated at 50,000.

Jaime Contreras, chairman of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, who organized the rally, said, "We're very proud of the people that came out despite the fact that [President] Bush's scare tactics of sending [immigration agents] to our neighborhoods has put some fear in people's minds."

Contreras said advocates have shifted their focus from rallies to voter registration drives and cautioned politicians not to conclude that the movement has lost steam just because its rallies are attracting fewer demonstrators.

"If they do, they're going to be sadly mistaken come election time," he said.

Staff writers Ernesto Londoño, Josh Partlow, Nick Miroff, Tom Jackman and Karin Brulliard contributed to this report.