He showed videotapes portraying the Immigration and Naturalization Service as too tolerant of illegal immigrants and warned that the government was not aggressive enough in patrolling borders. You are in the biggest fight you will have to face. The gathering came on the same day that more than 1,000 Latin American immigrants marched across Manhattan and held a rally in front of the United Nations building to demand more rights for immigrant workers and general amnesty for illegal immigrants. On eastern Long Island, the racially charged debate over illegal immigrants has been under way for several years, as more than 1,000 immigrants, many of them from Mexico and Central America, have arrived each summer and taken work as day laborers on landscaping or construction jobs. Many wait on street corners in Farmingville each morning to be hired by drive-by employers.
Some homeowners accuse the newcomers of littering, selling drugs and molesting women.
The immigrants, who say they take jobs that residents do not want, complain of harassment, abuse and overcrowded living conditions. The debate has been especially tense since the beating last month of two day laborers who were lured to an abandoned factory and attacked. One man has been arrested and another is being sought in that case. The Suffolk County Human Rights Commission and other groups are sponsoring a candlelight unity rally in Hauppauge today to urge officials to address the problems day laborers face. Ms. Bianculli, the leader of the group sponsoring the rally, said detractors had misrepresented her organization and followers as promoters of hate.