In perhaps the largest political demonstration in Rhode Island history, thousands of people rallied at the State House Monday to support the legalization of undocumented immigrants. Wearing Red Sox caps and soccer jerseys, pushing strollers and waving American, Guatemalan, and Mexican flags, the line of marchers stretched from the Capitol to the Broad Street bridge over Interstate 95.

The US House of Representatives’ bill that would make a felony of illegal immigration, or assisting an illegal immigrant, was the protesters’ prime target. “We are not criminals,“ declares marcher Francia Toribirio of Providence. “We are people who work and fight for a better future for the country.”

The Hispanic demonstrators praised the US as a land of opportunity, but also state, in the words of Mexican native Leobardo Martinez of Pawtucket, that they are treated like “second-class citizens.” One banner put it another way: “The Native American embassy did not ask your relatives (the Pilgrims) for a visa.”

Marchers, those in the country both legally and illegally, lamented the fate of illegal immigrants. “Hard working people,” says Diosa Martinez of Central Falls, a native of the Dominican Republic, “deserve a chance to be here legally and go to work without fear that their family is going to be torn apart.” An illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who requested anonymity, agrees, saying he wants to become a citizen so that he would no longer fear