The 'May Day Movement' rally Tuesday drew hundreds of immigrant rights activists to Modesto. Above, Victor Espinoza of Modesto hoists a flag banner while marching on Crows Landing Road.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE

Rally participants gather at 10th Street Plaza.

Dominick Olidem, 4, joins the rally.

Last Updated: May 2, 2007, 07:12:43 AM PDT Demonstrators turned out by the hundreds in Modesto on May Day to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million people who are in the United States illegally, but the crowd was far from the thousands that marched a year ago.

Starting at Crows Landing and Hatch roads, activists marched to City Hall, where they filled 10th Street Plaza. Then they walked back to their starting point, carrying with them the message that no human being is illegal.

"¡Únete!"

In Spanish, Jesús Alberto Gonzalez urged passers-by to "unite" with demonstrators by joining a group that started with about 100 people at 10 a.m. and multiplied as the sun warmed the crisp morning air.

Immigration rallies held across the country Tuesday produced only a fraction of the million-plus protesters who turned out last year. Fear about raids and frustration that the marches haven't pushed Congress to pass reform kept many at home, organizers said.

In Los Angeles, where several hundred thousand turned out last year, about 25,000 attended the first of two rallies, police said. At an evening rally, police arrested several people they said threw rocks and bottles at officers.

In Chicago, where more than 400,000 swarmed the streets a year earlier, police said Tuesday's crowd numbered about 150,000, by far the largest turnout nationwide.

There were sizable demonstrations in Seattle, New York, Miami and Phoenix as well.

In Modesto, with children in tow and flags from many countries hoisted in the air, immigrant rights activists marched the seven-mile route declaring along the way that illegal immigrants are not terrorists and they are not leaving.

Anjelica Mendoza, 14, of Modesto left school early to add her voice to the chorus calling for an open border, amnesty for illegal immigrants and civil rights.

"I'm learning more today about my people than I would be sitting in a classroom," she said.

While Mendoza is a first-generation Nicaraguan-American, Santiago Caldera, 30, of Ceres joined in the rally as an illegal immigrant.

"I'm here for a better future," Caldera said in Spanish.

In response to the view that illegal immigrants abuse U.S. support services, Caldera said he works hard at his roofing job and came to the United States in part because he feels the Mexican government takes advantage of its people.

"There's more opportunity here," said Caldera, who added that he was caught once before successfully crossing the desert for what he calls a fair, honest living in the United States.

The Modesto Brown Berets and Aztlan Rising orchestrated the "May Day Movement" rally. The groups also dispensed literature opposing proposed legislation called the Strive Act, which would make evading inspection a criminal penalty, bar illegals from temporary protection if convicted of gang crimes, strengthen border control, and more.

"The No. 1 thing we want people to get from this is that we are the indigenous people of this continent, and we deserve the right to live anywhere on this continent," said Ricardo Gil Jr., who manages the activist Web site Aztlan Rising.

Among other things, protesters spoke out against plans for a guest-worker program. They also called for reunifying deported people with their families in the United States and ending deportation of illegal immigrants.

"No human being is illegal," Salvador Vera shouted into the crowd outside of City Hall before they gathered their signs, flags and children and finished the march.

Beestaff writer Eve Hightowercan be reached at 578-2382 or .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.