On a recent sunny morning, students rallied at SeaTac’s Angle Lake Park to protest proposed legislation in Congress that, if enacted, would impact millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.

Many in the mostly Latino crowd carried signs proclaiming themselves not criminals as they danced in the parking lot with an occasional rally cry against House Resolution 4437.

“It really affects our Latino community and society as a whole,” said Julian Torres, a Highline-area student and protest organizer.

“It will open the doors for more ridicule in our community.”

Organizers, who only started planning the rally at 9 the previous evening, estimated that around 500 people attended.

“The response from the people that attended the rally has been really positive,” said Carrie Hathorn, another rally organizer. “The sense is that everyone is fighting for their community.”

The first version of the bill, which came out of the U.S. House of Representatives in December, would make it a felony to be in the country illegally, and make it a felony to offer aid to those illegally in the country.

The bill has been favored largely by Republicans but opposed by a majority of Democrats.

When the bill reached the Senate, protests erupted throughout the country, including the SeaTac rally.

“The law that was passed out of the House was very draconian, said U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-7, whose district includes part of the Highline area.

“It made everyone a felon and made no provisions for any kind of workers coming in to the country.”

McDermott voted against the House bill.

“It would have made employers in trouble with the law because they are aiding and abetting someone who is here illegally,” said Hathorn.

“It’s a racist policy, it’s so extreme,” said Hathorn.

The bill has been amended in the Senate to include a program that would allow illegal immigrants to become citizens after six years if they pay a combination of fines.

Some new immigrants would be allowed entry into the country on temporary work visas.

“The Senate bill is a bill that is trying to come at it in a more reasonable way,” said McDermott.

However, Republicans are firing back that those illegally in the country would be rewarded.

“Any type of reform will have an impact in our district,” said Lars Anderson, communications director of U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-9, whose district also includes part of the Highline area.

“What that impact will be is really hard to say right now.”

Smith voted against the House bill.

Sea-Tac International Airport, hotels and restaurants would be some of the businesses affected, said Anderson.

“It really is a community issue,” said McDermott. Illegal immigrants “are working full-time ... doing jobs that are generally not wanted by other people. To suddenly take them out of the workforce, the impact would be huge.

“...If all the illegal immigrants didn’t go to work tomorrow, I don’t know who would change the beds at the Hyatt and Hilton.

“In the Highline area ... economically these people would go down.”

If a family moves to the area from Mexico and has children -- who, under the Constitution, are American citizens -- and they go to school and graduate from Highline High School, and then all of a sudden the parents are sent home, the children will be left behind, McDermott said.

“You don’t have to have much of an imagination to see how that could be destructive in a community.”

The revised bill has been voted out of a conference committee, and will go to the Senate floor where it will be presented together with the House bill.