Hundreds of students and workers rallied through downtown Madison Thursday to protest labor and immigration issues.

The Immigrant Workers Union organized a May Day rally on International Workers Day to call attention to poor working conditions and immigration policies in Dane County. Participants traveled down West Washington Avenue from Brittingham Park to the Dane County Building near the Capitol.

The rally aimed to criticize current immigration laws for treating people as second-class citizens, according to a statement from the Immigrant Workers Union. Another motive for the rally was the recent actions of Sheriff Dave Mahoney, who has been checking the immigration status of prisoners at Dane County Jail.

UW-Madison student groups such as the Student Labor Action Coalition and the Campus Anti-War Network also participated in the rally. John Bruning, an active member of SLAC, said the rally was an “overall success.”

“We grew up with immigrants in our high schools, we go to college with immigrants, they are our classmates, our neighbors and our co-workers,” Bruning said.

Bruning said students participated in this rally to advocate for the presence of immigrants on the UW-Madison campus.

“We support immigrants, and they are welcome in our community,” Bruning said.