Careful! They'll make good on their threats! LOL! ;-)
Posted on 05/02/2006 7:09:29 AM PDT by LouAvul
LOS ANGELES - Illegal immigrants and their supporters vowed to keep up the pressure on Congress for reforms after more than 1 million people stepped out of the shadows and poured into the streets in a nationwide show of economic clout.
From Los Angeles to Chicago, Houston to Miami, a "Day Without Immigrants" Monday meant a day boycotting work and school in favor of rallies and marches with waves of red, white and blue filling streets for miles.
"We have far exceeded our expectations," said Mahonrry Hidalgo, chairman of the Immigration Committee of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. "The events are intended to show solidarity and, at the same time, send a message that injustice against the immigrant community is unacceptable. This is not the end of our struggle. It is the beginning."
The boycott was organized by immigrant activists angered by federal legislation that would criminalize an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants and fortify the U.S-Mexico border.
While some businesses suffered, the marches were festive — despite divisions among activists who argued a boycott would alienate federal lawmakers.
In all, police departments and local officials in more than two dozen U.S. cities contacted by The Associated Press gave crowd estimates that totaled about 1.1 million marchers.
Two major rallies in Los Angeles attracted an estimated 400,000, according to the mayor's office. Another 400,000 marched through Chicago's downtown business district, police estimated. The list was long: As many as 30,000 in Houston, 50,000 in San Jose, 30,000 more across Florida. From New Mexico to Tennessee to Massachusetts, smaller rallies attracted hundreds more.
Marchers standing shoulder-to-shoulder 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 and waved signs reading "We are America" and "Today we march, tomorrow we vote."
In Los Angeles, marchers held U.S. flags aloft and sang the national anthem in English as traditional Mexican dancers and Korean drummers wove through the crowd. In Philadelphia, about a thousand people from different marches converged in the historic area near the Liberty Bell.
In Washington, D.C., rallies were scattered but the White House took note — spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush disapproved of the boycott.
While most demonstrations were peaceful, a Santa Ana rally of 5,000 in California was marred by people hurling rocks and plastic bottles at officers. Police made several arrests, but it was unclear if they were protesters.
Two people were arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Both men had been throwing rocks and bottles at police, Officer Jason Lee said.
And a march in Seattle was disrupted when a car struck a group of marchers, though injuries were minor: The driver was arrested, five other people were arrested for possible weapons violations and one person was arrested for obstructing.
Industries that rely on immigrant workers were clearly affected, though the impact was not uniform. There was low attendance at hotels in Indianapolis, construction sites in Miami and plant nurseries and landscapers across a wide area.
Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, shuttered about a dozen of its more than 100 plants. Eight of 14 Perdue Farms chicken plants also closed for the day.
The rallies shut down 29 branches of Chipotle Mexican Grill, a Denver-based fast-casual dining chain. Goya Foods, which bills itself as the nation's largest Hispanic-owned food chain, suspended delivery everywhere except Florida in what the company called a gesture of solidarity.
In the Los Angeles area, many restaurants and markets were dark and truck traffic at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the nation's busiest — was off 90 percent, said spokeswoman Theresa Adams Lopez.
The construction industry was hard hit in Florida. More than half the workers at construction sites in Miami-Dade County did not show up, according to Bill Spann, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Greater Florida.
"If I lose my job, it's worth it," said Jose Cruz, an immigrant from El Salvador who rather than working his construction job protested with several thousand others in the rural city of Homestead outside Miami. "It's worth losing several jobs to get my papers."
About 35 to 40 anti-immigration demonstrators got into shouting matches with pro-immigration marchers as they were leaving a Denver park. Among them were Ron and Marge Mason of Thornton, a Denver suburb.
"We're tired of seeing the illegals coming in," Ron Mason said.
College Republicans at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte staged a rally of their own Monday, demanding tougher enforcement of existing immigration laws. The GOP group sold $5 bricks symbolic of a wall it said was needed to secure U.S. borders.
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."
The illegals that I've met just want to work; perhaps become citizens one day if they are really lucky. After all, the US is, as they say, the big PX. Many of them manage, after they've been here awhile, to acquire their green cards. As poor as they are, many of them consider their lives here better than anything they could have hoped for at home. I think their perception is that they'd never have had the chance to work and live here if they went through legal channels. Too many obstructions on both ends, their country's and ours.
Very true. My wife is an immigrant and we had to wait over a year for the paperwork that allowed her to come here. It's a little better now, but the whole body of immigration law needs to be overhauled. How likely is that to happen? :/
Yeah and the apologist media kept saying 'We don't know if it was accidental or intentional'. Here is a tip: If it WERE intentional, there would have been 50 DEAD, not 3 "slightly wounded".
From the news clip this morning, it looked like a Toyota Camry to me. I maybe wrong though.
One down, 364 more to go.
Agreed.
I think they may overhaul immigration law after all this hullaballoo, but whether or not they'll come up with anything workable is another matter. I'm not convinced anyone even knows what they want in the matter - the politicians are trying to figure out how to hide from the angry immigrants and the angry Americans, both at the same time. Their motivation is impure. Maybe they'll offer us all another $100 to go away.
My nephew married a beautiful Australian girl from a nice family of ranchers in the outback, wonderful folks who are the salt of the earth. INS wouldn't give her a visa, insisted it was a marriage of convenience. Logic doesn't necessarily enter the picture.
"I'm always annoyed would be more like it."
And you are always on the defense. Ever wonder why? Obviously not.
Careful! They'll make good on their threats! LOL! ;-)
Hey Laz! Your Irony is slipping just a teeny mite in your old age. Hows about: "Leave it to the media to see a potato as a potatoe."
LOL! You won't believe what spell check did with potatoe.
>>Despite the traffic clogging mobs in the streets of America; Monday, 1 May 06, was the best day American's have experienced since the invasion of our country began, many decades ago.
Everyone I talked to in the Bay Area was amazed at how light traffic was. I take the train so I didn't see any difference.
Never try this stuff at home; leave it to us traned proffeshunals.
LOL! A big BUMP to that.
True enough about education! I am just happy he is finally seeing the light!
We MUST stop the acceptance of law breaking as proper and normal behavior. We must extend this to treason, on the behalf of a MSM that aids and comforts our enemies!
Publicly hand a journalist, and this crap will stop. Arrest illegal employers, and this crap will stop. Simple really!
LLS
I don't necessarily disagree with your post - for instance, how are the immigrants who are painstakingly going through the proper legal channels going to feel when Bush lets all the illegals stay, but they are forced to continue with the red tape? And possibly be expelled, simply because they did what Uncle Sam said they had to do. In a way, they get screwed for obeying the law, while the lawbreakers get rewarded.
OTOH, while admittedly not being familiar with the (often unenforced) immigration and "visitor" laws, I have this feeling that the procedure is probably incoherent, difficult, and without clear purpose. My opinion is that the US needs to decide exactly what it wants on this matter, make it clear, and enforce it. End of story.
I will say that I don't believe the jumping in line analogy is right, since I don't think the guys who sneaked in lengthened the process for the ones entering legally, as does happen when lines are jumped. They just sneaked in through another doorway, like kids crawling under the ballpark fence. And for many of these people, it's more a matter of desperation than of intent to take advantage.
You got that right, sir!
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