PROVIDENCE — An estimated 500 to 600 people marched through Providence to the State House yesterday to call for legalization of undocumented immigrants and to decry immigration raids such as the one that took place in New Bedford in March.

Last year, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people marched in Providence during a May 1 “Day Without An Immigrant” boycott and demonstration.

“That was a different time,” the Rev. Raymond L. Tetrault, pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Church in Olneyville, said during yesterday’s event.

The threat of “oppressive anti-immigration legislation” prompted a wave of protests across the country last year, and this year immigration raids have made many illegal immigrants fearful of attending public gatherings such as the march, Father Tetrault said. Some are even afraid of going to church, he said.

“People are very much on edge,” Father Tetrault said. “People are living in fear.”

On March 6, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Michael Bianco Inc. factory in New Bedford and detained 361 people suspected of being in the country illegally. They also arrested and charged the company owner with knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

Father Tetrault was one of the speakers who addressed the crowd on the steps of the State House, speaking in both English and Spanish.

He said that 376 years ago “the first immigrant arrived in this land — Roger Williams came in the middle of winter. He came freezing and starving, and the only thing he had was the wet clothes on his back. And he had no documents.”

But, Father Tetrault said, “the Indian people, the natives of this state, received him and gave him on the banks of the Moshassuck [River] a place to live, to build his house, to work and to gain his own life.” He said the national monument on that site “is calling out” to the descendants of all immigrants “to have compassion, justice and wisdom to receive our new brothers and sisters who come here.”

Some in the crowd carried the flags of the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. Many held up printed signs that said “Our Prosperity, Our Promise.” And others brought handmade signs. One said: “Stop, look and listen, and see deportation destroys families.”

Marilyn Acevedo held a sign that borrowed from the Book of Leviticus: “Don’t forget you were also a stranger in this land.”

Acevedo, 37, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic in 1989 and became a U.S. citizen in 1999, now lives in Providence and works as a secretary for city government.

She noted there are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and she said, “We need legalization for these people. They are making a living and contributing to this economy. If they were legalized, it will be better for them and for the country. You would have 12 million people paying the IRS and Social Security.”

A few marble steps away, members of a group called Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement were holding a counterdemonstration, holding up signs that said, “It’s a crime to vote if you are not a U.S. citizen” and “Don’t let I.C.E. melt.”

The group’s executive director, Terry Gorman, 67, of Lincoln, said, “This group is in no way, shape or form against immigrants. Immigrants are making out pretty good in this country. They are welcome. We are against illegal immigrants.”

Gorman said about 20 members of his group were there yesterday. “Everybody is working,” he explained. “We can’t get people like they do.”

Gorman said his group is pushing for legislation to ensure employers verify whether their employees are legally in the country.

Meanwhile, Rachel Miller, director of Jobs with Justice, said her group is pushing for legislation that would stop racial profiling by the police and allow undocumented children to once again enroll in the state-financed RIte Care health-insurance program.

Miller was among a group that gathered near Central High School to begin yesterday’s march. Standing in a flatbed truck, men with bullhorns led chants in Spanish: “Here as mothers, we stand up. Here as fathers, we stand up. For our children, we stand up. For this fight, we stand up.” Then the crowd marched down Broad Street, heading for the State House.

efitzpat@projo.com