Immigration Rallies Planned Nationwide

Associate Director of Development, Jorge-Mario Cabera, of the Central American Resource Center gives a flyer to Na Hee Won, with her daughter Grace Won, 1, of Los Angeles, to Tuesday's multi-ethnic immigrant workers May Day march, Monday, April 30, 2007 in Los Angeles.(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas) (Gus Ruelas - AP)

Others have rejected the boycott, arguing that it puts immigrants' livelihoods at risk and deprives children of valuable classroom time. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, urged students to stay in school.

"This is a very decentralized and organic movement, so in all different cities people will be doing what they feel is important in their area," said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, a major organizer of rallies.

Among the events planned:

_ In New York, groups are planning an "American Family Tree" rally, where immigrants will pin paper leaves on a large painting of a tree to symbolize the separation of families because of strict immigration laws.

_ In Chicago, demonstrators will march more than three miles through downtown, ending at a lakefront park.

_ In Fresno, Calif., organizers planned a rally focusing on children whose parents had been deported. The San Joaquin Valley is home to thousands of seasonal workers who cross the Mexican border illegally each year to work in the fields and construction industry.

_ In Milwaukee, Ricardo Chavez, the brother of famed agricultural labor leader Cesar Chavez, was expected to speak, as protesters demanded a stop to immigration raids. A raid last year in Whitewater, Wis., saw the arrests of 25 workers and the owner of a packaging plant. Mothers were separated from their children.

_ In Florida, voter registration drives and vigils were planned in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach, along with after-hours rallies in agricultural towns in the Everglades.

_ In Los Angeles, marches will include demands for a legalization program, a stop to the raids and an anti-Iraq war message. City and transportation officials were planning for as many as 500,000 people in downtown, believing it could be the largest in the city so far this year.

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Associated Press writers Garance Burke in Fresno, Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.