On Sunday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the United States capital Washington to demonstrate for the rights of illegal immigrants. They want them to be able to live and work legally in the US.

Although there have been plans for years to change the immigration laws, and even though President Barack Obama has promised to take action, other matters - such as health care reform and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - have taken precedence. The demonstrators want Mr Obama to speed things up.

During the protests many people were surprised to hear, in amongst such slogans as 'It's time' and 'Obama, don't postpone the reforms', a taped message from the president himself. He confirmed his support for the demonstrators' aims, but said the reforms they wanted wouldn't "happen overnight".

More than 11 million people, the majority of them from Latin America, currently live in the US illegally.