Immigrants, advocates ready marches across Wash.

Jaime Castillo, his wife, and daughter are all on the verge of being expelled from the United States.

But on Saturday, the 48-year-old Guatemalan undocumented immigrant will march in Seattle in support of immigration reform, one of dozens of rallies planned in cities across the country.

"We're marching so the Republicans and Democrats come together and have a dialogue ... and approve immigration reform, so the raids stop and the separations of families stop," Castillo said in Spanish.

Castillo, who works cleaning houses with his wife, said he left Guatemala in 1991 after being brutally beaten. For years, he lived here using visitor visas, but when immigration officers noticed he wasn't just visiting the country, his visa was canceled. He re-entered the country illegally through Arizona and applied for asylum, but his petition has been denied.

"The hardest thing is leaving our daughters," he said. "I've seen it before, children being left behind to be taken care by relatives or friends, but it's not the same as when the parents raise them."

Castillo's youngest daughter, an American citizen, is 10.

In Washington, rallies will be held in at least nine cities, including Vancouver, which will see one of its first organized rallies, and Wenatchee, Centralia, Mount Vernon, and Seattle.

Protesters are calling on Congress to reform immigration law, a plea that has increased in urgency since Arizona passed one of the nation's strictest laws targeting illegal immigration.

Since 2006, the last time Congress considered overhauling the nation's immigration laws, numbers have steadily declined for May 1 marches.

But Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, one of the state's largest immigrant rights advocacy groups, says this year pro-immigrant advocates are organized.

"I think what you're gonna see an explosion of anger and deep resolve in the wake of a terrible law in Arizona," Jayapal said.

The law approved this month in Arizona requires authorities to question people about immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally.

Critics say the law is unconstitutional and encourages racial profiling and discrimination against immigrants or anyone thought to be an immigrant.

But supporters say the law is necessary because of the federal government's failure to secure the border and growing anxiety over crime related to illegal immigration

Craig Keller, who supports the law, thinks it will help his cause because it's brought heightened awareness.

Keller is an organizer for Respect Washington, a volunteer-driven organization that lobbies for stricter immigration rules in the state.

His organization is gathering signatures to try to put an initiative on the ballot that would require proof of citizenship when obtaining a driver's license and require cities to sign up for E-Verify, the federal government's program that checks a person's eligibility to work in the country.

The language in their petition was based off templates provided by the Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Reform Law Institute. One of the attorneys who leads the group was one of the chief authors of Arizona's new law.

Keller said the demonstrations feature "people marching to defend illegality and not independence and freedom."

Respect Washington's previous attempts to collect signatures have fallen short.