Immigrants march in U.S. but rallies lose steam

By Dan Whitcomb and Syantani Chatterjee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of immigrants marched through cities across the United States on Thursday, but the smaller crowds suggested their cause had lost momentum in this election year.

Immigration-rights activists tried to focus this year's rallies on stopping workplace raids after Washington failed last year to act on reforms that included a path to legal status for illegal immigrants.

In Los Angeles, a few thousand people converged on downtown before a major rally. But numbers were nowhere near the 500,000-strong showing in March 2006 that caught authorities off-guard and prompted activists to hail the start of a new civil rights movement.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former Latino rights activist, earlier criticized U.S. immigration officials for raiding businesses that employ illegal immigrants, saying they should focus instead on arresting violent criminals.

"What I'm saying is we need to prioritize our resources," he told a news conference after two recent raids on local factories.

In one major raid last month, U.S. immigration agents arrested about 400 employees at five Pilgrim's Pride Corp chicken plants from West Virginia to Texas in connection with immigration-related crimes including identity theft.

In Phoenix, no one turned out to march, in contrast to past years when central thoroughfares were packed with activists waving banners and placards.

In Tucson, Arizona, a few hundred pro-immigration supporters walked through the streets carrying placards that read: "Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote" and "Citizenship Yes! Deportation No!" falling short of organizers' hopes that several thousand would attend.