LOS ANGELES, March 28 (UPI) -- Immigration activists are crediting Los Angeles-area Spanish-language disc jockeys with spurring people to join protests against an immigration reform bill.
A Los Angeles rally expected to draw about 20,000 ended with the police estimating 500,000 people marching against a bill before the U.S. Congress that would make it a felony to be in the United States without proper documentation.
Rally organizers said Spanish-language broadcasts helped get out the word of the protests and swelled the ranks of demonstrators, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
"If you listened to Spanish-language media, they were just pumping, pumping, pumping this up," Mike Garcia, a union official, told the Times.
One of the key DJs in the effort was Eddie Sotelo, who the Times said organized a "summit" of top-rated DJs in the area to support the protest.
Sotelo told the Times he was an illegal immigrant in 1986, entering the United State in the truck of a car, but gained legal status in the mid 1990's.
"I think we have to make sure the message went through to Washington, to let them know we're not criminals," Sotelo said.
