Dallas Morning News/Dianne Solis,Stella Chavez, Katherine Leal Unmuth (contributed)/[[April 2, 2007]]/ link

An immigrant-rights rally on Sunday to mark the immense social protest a year ago was lower in turnout but more focused in its message: become a citizen, vote or learn to lobby.

And the speech that roused the crowd at the Dallas City Hall plaza came from departing Catholic Bishop Charles Grahmann, whose first " Si­, se puede" – the "Yes, we can" chant from the Chicano labor movement – was followed by a chorus of echoes.

Law enforcement estimates of the crowd varied from 2,000 to 6,000 – a fraction of the attendance at the 2006 march, believed to be the largest social protest in Texas history.

...Activist Elizabeth Villafranca weaved among the crowd with her clipboard, looking to register new voters.

...Juan Hernandez, who served in the administration of Mexico's former President Vicente Fox, urged those who were in the U.S. legally to become U.S. citizens and to register to vote. And then he urged the crowd to lobby, to make phone calls to federal lawmakers and to the White House. Holding his cellphone to the microphone, he called the White House and said, in Spanish, "I support immigration reform, Mr. Bush."

Former state legislator Domingo Garcia hit the same lobbying theme...

Other speakers included Dallas City Council member Don Hill, who is running for mayor; Casey Thomas, president of the Dallas NAACP; and Gustavo Jimenez, the Duncanville High School student who helped kick off the student walkouts last March.

Coty Rodriguez Anderson, a counselor at a Dallas high school, called for immigration raids to stop...