WASHINGTON, May 1: A one-day nationwide strike and business boycott gathered steam on Monday to demand legal rights for millions of illegal immigrants, with many US businesses shutting down voluntarily to avoid disruption.

Early reports suggested many of the estimated 11.5-12 million illegal immigrants in the country were staying away from work, despite a mixed message from immigrant rights organizations, some of which opposed the action.

In New York City’s Union Square, the normally bustling open-air market operated at a fraction of its typical activity. Cheap, immigrant-run bus services from New Jersey to the city were not running.

Demonstrators formed “human chains” at several points around the city. Hundreds, including schoolchildren, lined up in Queens, stretching for three blocks on both sides of the street waving US and Latin American flags and banners saying “We are Americans” and “Full Rights for All Immigrants.”

“Everyone’s an immigrant here. The only real American is the Indian,” said Puerto Rican-born Rene Ochart, a doorman at a posh hotel in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, who was working as usual.

A bill passed by the House of Representatives in December that will make all illegal immigrants into felons provoked a mass protest movement, bringing people who previously worked and lived in the shadows of the US society into the streets.—Reuters