Immigration Reform 2013: Latinos Preparing to March on Washington in Hopes of Pushing Congress to Reform Immigration

With immigration reform taking center stage in Washington these days, thousands of immigrants intent to head to Washington on Wednesday to rally support for getting a bill on immigration done as soon as possible.

While the bipartisan U.S. Senate panel known as the "Gang of Eight" are working on a comprehensive immigration reform bill--which some members expect to be ready for a public reveal as soon as this week--immigrant rights groups are organizing tens of thousands of people to rally in the nation's capital in order to keep the pressure on Congress to pass a bill.

Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice for the Center for Community Change, said Monday that immigration groups were hopeful that the bill would be ready by now, but the panel keeps dragging its feet, and it's April and there's no bill." 

However, she added, "there's something to be said for the power of having tens of thousands of bodies all coming together for a common interest."

Matos' concerns may not be completely unfounded, as some of the panel members, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have been reluctant about declaring that a bill is close to completion, while others such as Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., have been optimistic of the idea that a bill could be ready to unveil by the end of the week.

Wednesday's march on Washington hasn't been the first time that civil rights groups have marched on the capitol. However, some caution, protests may not always have the desired effect on policy change.

"In general, protests don't change policy," University of Maryland professor Dana R. Fisher, who studies protest and social movements, told ABC News. "We live in a very big country and in order to show large-scale political will, we need to have millions of people on the streets."

However, the last major immigration reform protest, in 2006, has a widespread effect as thousands of immigrants in cities such as New York, Washington, Las Veaas, Miami, Chicago and Phoenix protested immigration laws around the nation.

"I'm not sure we are going to see the numbers we saw in 2006, because it's harder to get people out on the streets in favor of something," said University of California Riverside professor Karthick Ramakrishnan, who studies the politics of immigration.