A SEA of protesters waving the Stars and Stripes flooded 70 cities across the US yesterday in the biggest mass mobilisation of minority rights marchers since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Instead of the gospel song We Shall Overcome, largely Latino crowds chanted a similar sentiment of Sí, se puede!, Spanish for “Yes, we can!”. Others yesterday made a more direct link with the civil rights movement, displaying banners reading: “We have a dream, too.”

Hispanics, who outnumber African-Americans, are flexing their political muscle like African Americans did in the generation before. Yesterday they filled the streets of Atlanta, Georgia — Martin Luther King’s birthplace — and gathered in the shadow of the Washington Monument, near where he delivered his historic “I have a dream” speech in 1963.

Even before the demonstrations yesterday, more than one million pro-immigration protesters — boosted by black, Asian and white supporters — had marched through cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami and Dallas, in recent weeks.

Organisers are planning a national strike on May 1 to show how life would grind to a halt without immigrants. The scale of these protests has taken the US political establishment by surprise, prompting a vigorous debate about national identity.

President Bush said yesterday that the US had always been a “nation of immigrants” and “we ought to be compassionate”. But many Republicans appear disturbed by the prospect of America in 2050 being home to more than 100 million Hispanics — one quarter of the projected population.

Last year the House of Representatives passed legislation that would make it a federal felony to be — or to help — an illegal immigrant. Members of Congress also want to build a 1,123km (698-mile) fence along what right-wing broadcasters like to call the “broken border” with Mexico.

The Hispanic population, which until now has remained largely in the shadows of American politics, has been emboldened to defend friends, relatives and neighbours among the 11 million undocumented workers in the US.

“We are not criminals” and “We are America” read the messages on many of the protesters’ white T-shirts yesterday. Others emphasised the honesty and hard work that have made Latino employees a mainstay of the US economy. One stated: “Fight against weapons of mass production not people of mass production.”

Senators announced bipartisan agreement last week on a compromise that would tighten security while also granting legal status to seven million undocumented workers. But on Friday the deal stalled amid bitter feuding between Republicans and Democrats.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California and himself an immigrant and naturalised citizen, used an article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday to say “keep the doors of this country open”. Perhaps mindful of the huge Hispanic population in his state, he urged fellow Republicans and members of Congress to push ahead with legislation and remember “that immigrants are good people”.

However, others suggested that splits among Republicans meant that any reform may be delayed until after the mid-term Congressional elections in November.

There is still strong opposition to a measure that critics say is an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

Tom Tancredo, a Republican Congressman, said yesterday that an amnesty would send a “terrible message to every person who has come into this country the right way”.

Leaders say that these protests need to be converted into a lasting political legacy through voter registration drives. At yesterday’s rally in Washington the names of Republicans such as Mr Tancredo were booed before the crowd began chanting: “Today we march, tomorrow we vote!”

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