1M Immigrants Skip Work for Demonstration

LOS ANGELES - More than 1 million mostly Hispanic immigrants and their supporters skipped work and took to the streets Monday, flexing their economic muscle in a nationwide boycott that succeeded in slowing or shutting many farms, factories, markets and restaurants.

From Los Angeles to Chicago, Houston to Miami, the "Day Without Immigrants" attracted widespread participation despite divisions among activists over whether a boycott would send the right message to Washington lawmakers considering sweeping immigration reform.

"We are the backbone of what America is, legal or illegal, it doesn't matter," said Melanie Lugo, who with her husband and their third-grade daughter joined a rally of some 75,000 in Denver. "We butter each other's bread. They need us as much as we need them."

Two major rallies in Los Angeles attracted an estimated 400,000, according to the mayor's office. Police in Chicago estimated 400,000 people marched through the downtown business district.

Tens of thousands more marched in New York, along with about 15,000 in Houston, 50,000 in San Jose and 30,000 more across Florida. Smaller rallies in cities from Pennsylvania and Connecticut to Arizona and South Dakota attracted hundreds not thousands.

In all, police departments in more than two dozen U.S. cities contacted by The Associated Press gave crowd estimates that totaled about 1.1 million marchers.

The mood was jubilant. Marchers standing shoulder-to-shoulder filmed themselves on home video and families sang and chanted and danced in the streets wearing American flags as capes and bandanas. In most cities, those who rallied wore white to signify peace and solidarity.

In Los Angeles, the city streets were a carpet of undulating white that stretched for several miles, with palm trees and grass-covered medians poking through a sea of humanity. Marchers holding U.S. flags aloft sang the national anthem in English as traditional Mexican dancers wove through the crowd.

In Chicago, illegal immigrants from Ireland and Poland marched alongside Hispanics as office workers on lunch breaks clapped. In Phoenix, protesters formed a human chain in front of Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores. Protesters in Tijuana, Mexico, blocked vehicle traffic heading to San Diego at the world's busiest border crossing.

Many carried signs in Spanish that translated to "We are America" and "Today we march, tomorrow we vote." Others waved Mexican flags or wore hats and scarves from their native countries. Some chanted "USA" while others shouted slogans, such as "Si se puede!" Spanish for "Yes, it can be done!" Others were more irreverent, wearing T-shirts that read "I'm illegal. So what?"

"The president is not a fan of boycotts," said press secretary Scott McClellan. "People have the right to peacefully express their views, but the president wants to see comprehensive reform pass the Congress so that he can sign it into law."

The boycott was organized by immigrant activists angered by federal legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants and fortify the U.S-Mexico border. Its goal was to raise awareness about immigrants' economic power.

Industries that rely on immigrant workers were clearly affected, though the impact was not uniform.

Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, shuttered about a dozen of its more than 100 plants and saw "higher-than-usual absenteeism" at others. Most of the closures were in states such as Iowa and Nebraska. Eight of 14 Perdue Farms chicken plants also closed for the day.

Goya Foods, which bills itself as the nation's largest Hispanic-owned food chain, suspended delivery everywhere except Florida, saying it wanted to express solidarity with immigrants who are its primary customers.

None of the 175 seasonal laborers who normally work Mike Collins' 500 acres of Vidalia onion fields in southeastern Georgia showed up.

"We need to be going wide open this time of year to get these onions out of the field," he said. "We've got orders to fill. Losing a day in this part of the season causes a tremendous amount of problems."

It was the same story in Indiana, where the owner of a landscaping business said he was at a loss. About 25 Hispanic workers — 90 percent of the field work force — never reported Monday to Salsbery Brothers Landscaping.

"We're basically shut down in our busiest month of the year," said owner Jeff Salsbery. "It's going to cost me thousands of dollars."

In the Los Angeles area, restaurants and markets were dark and truckers avoided the nation's largest shipping port. About one in three small businesses was closed downtown, including the cluttered produce market and fashion district.

The construction and nursery industries were among the hardest hit by the work stoppage in Florida.

Bill Spann, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Greater Florida said more than half the workers at construction sites in Miami-Dade County did not show up Monday.

"If I lose my job, it's worth it," said Jose Cruz, an immigrant from El Salvador who protested with several thousand others in the rural Florida city of Homestead rather than work his construction job. "It's worth losing several jobs to get my papers."

But the effect was minimal in some places. On Manhattan's busy 14th Street, only a few shops were closed, including a Spanish-language bookstore and a tiny Latin American restaurant.

The impact on some school systems was significant. In the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, which is 73 percent Hispanic, about 72,000 middle and high school students were absent — roughly one in every four.

In San Francisco, Benita Olmedo pulled her 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son from school.

"I want my children to know their mother is not a criminal," said Olmedo, a nanny who came here illegally in 1986 from Mexico. "I want them to be as strong I am. This shows our strength."

Truck traffic at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the nation's largest port complex — was off 90 percent, said spokeswoman Theresa Adams Lopez.

Some of the rallies drew small numbers of counter-protesters, including one in Pensacola, Fla.

"You should send all of the 13 million aliens home, then you take all of the welfare recipients who are taking a free check and make them do those jobs," said Jack Culberson, a retired Army colonel who attended the Pensacola rally. "It's as simple as that."

Jesse Hernandez, who owns a Birmingham, Ala., company that supplies Hispanic laborers to companies around the Southeast, shut down his four-person office in solidarity with the demonstrations.

"Unfortunately," he said, "human nature is that you don't really know what you have until you don't have it."

Well I'm in NJ and theres groups of illegals that stand on street corners looking for work each morning. They dont speak much english nor do they look like they've become Americanized. If I have insulted you in anyway I did not mean to. However years ago I can remember the INS coming thru local towns looking for those without green cards and they went up to anyone they thought was illegal. If they had the card they were not hassled, if they didnt they took them in. It worked. I have nothing against anyone coming here legally. But we need to do something to find out who is illegal. Unless they have the card how are we to know? I am not saying anyone who looks Mexican is illegal but come on there are plenty of Mexicans who you just can see arent here legally. Sorry If you took my comment as an insult it was not meant to be.

It's just a slippery slope, and the a$$clowns tend to like falling down slippery slopes. There's an a$$clown on another thread who now says he's going to stop frequenting or shopping at ANY hispanic owned businesses or businesses who even EMPLOY hispanics, regardless of how the businessowners or employees feel about illegal immigration. Do you know how unfair this guy's plan is to conservative hispanic families with businesses like mine who are basically just like other Americans in terms of having built up their businesses, paid taxes, raised families, sent sons/fathers/brothers to war, etc.?

"Jesse Hernandez, who owns a Birmingham, Ala., company that supplies Hispanic laborers to companies around the Southeast, shut down his four-person office in solidarity with the demonstrations."

I think the authorities should take a very very close look at Hernandez business. We need to know all about his "hispanic laborers". ICE, IRS, INS, and as many alphabet agencies as possible.

You are right. i am just in a mood. i have many friends who employ Mexicans who are the most hardworking loyal employees one could ask for. I just get so mad when i hear we are the invaders and they want their land back. I tend to rant then think. Usually im very nice and want to help everyone. i just see how we can give amnesty when we have so many people who are on lists waiting in line. i dont blame anyone for wanting a better life, both sides of my grandparents did. just lets find a sensible way to do it and if you want to come in, do it the legal way.

Retired Army Colonel Jack Culberson took the words right out of my mouth.We should send all the illegal aliens home and put the people collecting welfare to work in their place.If we don't have enough welfare recipients we can always use the thousands of non violent inmates who sit on their ass and suck up tax dollars.Just about anything is better than letting in millions of ignorant people who think we owe them something.

"We are the backbone of what America is, legal or illegal, it doesn't matter," said Melanie Lugo, who with her husband and their third-grade daughter

.... WRONG. We cannot accept illegal aliens in this country, and it adds insult to injury to see expressions from illegal aliens that think they have a 'right' to be here, irregardless of laws, of the costs, of the needs and efforts of citizens and honest law-abiding immigrants who DO obey the laws to get and stay here.

NO AMNESTY is the right response. Obey the law, then let's talk.

"I want my children to know their mother is not a criminal," said Olmedo, a nanny who came here illegally in 1986 from Mexico.

If it wasn't so STUPID I'd have to laugh at this craziness. Does she think that merely SAYING she's not a criminal makes her not a criminal???????

I've got a another idea. Find out who is EMPLOYING the illegals, and boycott those businesses

You are on the right track. I would join in. We would have to be ready to endure being called names and having our "organizers" and "ringleaders" accused of extremism, racism and hard-right leanings. As you know, the libby-dibs like to do boycotts and get called heroes by the MSM; and they think it's their own personal one-way street. And they enjoy not having their communist underpinnings exposed by the MSM. But, oh, how they would howl if we made a two-way street out of it, and had a BIG boycott of our own. I am so sick of this, I'm ready for a little payback.

A snippet from my files:

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006886.php

Sun Still Setting In The West

It appears that the nationwide strike by illegal immigrants and their supporters caused some headaches but little immediate economic impact, as outside of Denver, Chicago, and Los Angeles...However, in a story that will likely have immigration hardliners talking for days, the AP reports that twenty-five percent of the children in the Los Angeles School District failed to attend classes today. After all, LAUSD's annual budget for its 746,000 students is over $13 billion, or about $17,000 per student. If the walkout caused 25% of the students to strike, that puts the annual educational cost for illegal immigrants at around $3.25 billion -- just for Los Angeles.

You can bet that a lot of people will do precisely these kinds of calculations nationwide. How many students walked out in Chicago? In Houston? In Denver? One of the reasons why illegal immigrants existed in the shadows was to avoid this kind of exposure, but that's no longer operative.

It was a great boycott if you compare a mapping of Non-Citizens against a mapping of the last two Presidential elections

Here there is almost a 1 to 1 corelation. Comments (32)

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