Millions expected to rally on 'Day Without Immigrants'

Immigration and our Borders Forum

Organizers predict unprecedented rallies to support immigrants

Monday, May 1, 2006; Posted: 9:33 a.m. EDT (13:33 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Organizers predict unprecedented participation in Monday's rallies against a proposed crackdown on illegal immigration, with millions expected to boycott jobs, schools and businesses as a way to show the economic power of immigrants.

"It will be tens of millions from coast to coast, from Los Angeles to New York," said Javier Rodriguez, a spokesman for the March 25 Coalition.

"You can expect L.A. to be at a standstill almost totally. You will not have truckers. You will not have taxi drivers, garment workers, hotel workers, restaurant workers -- half of the teacher force will not be going to school."

The demonstrations, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," follow previous rallies that drew crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands in Los Angeles, California, and Dallas, Texas. Other cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Phoenix, Arizona, saw tens of thousands of people turn out for such protests.

But Monday's events will be unprecedented in their scope, said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association.

"We're going to see something that's never occurred in the history of this United States -- a day in which immigrants withhold their labor, withhold their consuming power -- they don't go to school, they don't go shopping, they don't go selling," Lopez said.

In New York, organizers are calling for demonstrators to form a human chain at 12:16 p.m. ET to symbolize the December day a controversial bill sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill, which stalled in the Senate, would make felons of the illegal immigrants and calls for new walls on 700 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border.

A rally also has been scheduled at 4 p.m. in Union Square in Manhattan, and demonstrators plan to march from the park to the main federal building.

In Chicago, Illinois, organizers are estimating between 300,000 and 500,000 people will show up for a rally in Grant Park, which would make it one of the city's largest demonstrations. Chicago police said they have worked with organizers to ensure the rally remains peaceful and they do not plan to wear riot gear.

About 7.2 million illegal immigrants hold jobs in the United States, making up 4.9 percent of the overall labor force, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Undocumented workers make up 24 percent of farmworkers and hold 14 percent of construction jobs, the study found.

Other estimates put the number of illegal immigrants in the United States at more than 11 million.

Lawmakers cite concern about marches

Sen. Trent Lott warned Sunday that the planned demonstrations could undercut senators trying to find a middle ground.

"I do think that these big demonstrations are counterproductive, and they hurt with a guy like me, who is trying to look at this in a way that is responsible," the Mississippi Republican told CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Monday that he had mixed feelings about the protests. He said he understood the huge economic impact immigrants can have on a border state but added that he would prefer demonstrators focused on pushing lawmakers to reform immigration laws.

Even some of those who supported the earlier protests have called for caution in Monday's rallies. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last week urged parents not to let their children leave school for the demonstrations. Some immigrant groups have warned workers not to take part if it would cost them their jobs.

But Christine Neumann Ortiz, who helped organize an earlier Milwaukee protest, said she has seen increased support for immigrants since the earlier demonstrations.

"Particularly, the business community and the African-American and Asian community have really, actually stepped forward this time in a way that they didn't just a couple of months ago," she said.

Divisive issue among GOP

The immigration debate has split Republicans as midterm elections approach. President Bush, taking great pains to woo Latino voters to the GOP, has called for a guest-worker program and a way to legalize the status of people in the United States illegally.

"There are ways to solve the enormous illegal immigration problem that we have in this country," Josh Bolten, the new White House chief of staff, told "Fox News Sunday." "But I think only if we tone down the very emotional rhetoric on both sides of it and come to some consensus position in the middle."

A bipartisan measure backed by Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, would include the proposals Bush has advanced.

"What we're talking about is getting folks out of the shadows and on a path to legality," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California. "And then getting them in line behind others that came before -- but not punishing them and putting them in jail, as the House bill would do."

Critics have denounced any legalization plan as "amnesty" and vowed to oppose it.

A compromise Senate bill backed by Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Mel Martinez of Florida would make the legalization process tougher for illegal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years.

But the bill stalled when Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid objected to Majority Leader Bill Frist's decision to let Republican senators offer amendments to the measure.

CNN's Ines Ferre and Keith Oppenheim contributed to this report .

This is getting ridiculous.........Don't you think?

It all comes down to, apparently, having an enormous sense of entitlement. It would seem that the United States, and all of the legal citizens of it, exist purely for the benefit of illegal immigrants and how dare we not be OK with that?

If you're not a LEGAL citizen of this country, you don't have the right to vote here. So, why should you get the right to protest here? Do it in your own country.

I'm not going to another country, and doing that... so don't do it here. There are other countries that I would LOVE to live in, for specific reasons... but, I don't live there, nor am I trying to sneak into that country, illegally.

I'm just sick of it all.

I have a family member who is a position of authority at a resort hotel. The cleaning staff said they weren't going to come in today. They told them to not bother coming in for the rest of the week.

-HECK!

If I owned a business and they weren't coming in today, I would tell 'em not to bother coming back, period.

I wouldn't hire illegals, ever... so, these would be American citizens. It's not a national holiday... so, they can do this in their OWN time... not mine.

Another way this is going to backfire is that there will be no noticeable effect on commerce or the economy, which was intended to be illustrated by the boycott.

Oh I am sure that ABC, CBS, and NBC will inform us of the crippling economic effect that it had on the economy. It's just that nobody will actually see it with their own eyes.

It was stupid for the organizers of the boycott to think they could disrupt the economy with a one-day strike. If there is no disruption, it proves that the illegal aliens are not essential as they would have us believe.

Well, if they want to have a crippling effect, they should know that there are a lot of others who WILL be out, purchasing today, to show that there is no difference.

Anything that they report on this, will be altered, in my opinion.

I never knew that Americans took what illegal/legal immigrants did for granted in the first place?

If white people didn't go to work there would be a big difference. Same with black people. Not Canadians though.

I seriously think that everyone who is not at work today should volunteer to work on the Fourth of July.

-HECK!

President Fox has a brain, and knows that this isn't going to have the best of results.

I am going to buy double what I normally would have.

Nah, I won't, but it sounds good.

-HECK!

I was going to do my grocery shopping today, but we needed stuff this weekend.

Hell, I'll go buy a protest hot dog at lunch.
(o.k. I have a migraine and I don't want to cook, but it sounds good.)

I went to Del Taco this morning. I don't know how that works in the scheme of things.

-HECK!

Where my daughter goes to school, Farragut Elementary school in San Diego, a lot students are latino. Those that did not show up got detention for skipping school. That is what I was told. It just goes to show.....

I said, in another thread, that we have one of our schools (here in San Diego) that about all students didn't show up. And, one of our high schools had 800 students not show up. The fit is going to hit the shan on this.

If I had a kid that ditched out today, their butt would be bruised as soon as they walked in the door. People can go and protest after school, and work. Boy, we're really teaching our kids how important an education is when we say... "Hey, take off, protest, whatever you want."

We were at the park at work for a good bye lunch and there were all these people protesting, and YEAH, their kids were there with them. And these aren't like teenagers that might know what they're doing. These are like 2nd graders. please. and you can tell some of the older kids were there just to get out of school. they were just sitting around, not participating. I'd tell my kids the same thing - if you wanna protest, fine, but you're doing it after school.

My boss gave everyone in the office who came to work today a gift card to Westfield. Yeah yeah!

-HECK!

That's a nice gift... send it to me, and I will spend it for you!

Maybe your boss is hoping that you will all go out, tonight, and spend it, to help show that we're not hurt from their lack of spending.

At the office, I can recall, only two people did not show up to work for this "May Day" thing and those two were the janitor who is from Costa Rica and the food chef who is from Mexico.

We joked around about this boycott, saying it was a stupid boycott. It really did not prove much as some newspapers say it did.

Several big companies such as Tyson shut down plants. I wonder what they think of having the big spotlight focused on them and their apparent hiring practices. If they only had a few illegal workers, they would not have to shut down the plant and risk drawing the attention of the immigration authorities. So they must have so many illegals working for them that they had to shut down.

Of course, on the other hand, maybe Tyson is used to having the immigration authorities overlook their infractions.

Many companies, with LEGAL immigrants working for them, shut down, to show support to their workers. Many San Diego companies were interviewed today, and the owners stated things like... "I closed my company, and gave them the day off... with the exception that we will be opened on Saturday, to take care of today." So, I don't think that companies closed because they hired illegals, Euclid. I think that they decided to support their employees.

Personally, I don't agree with it. They could have gone AFTER work. That would have been my decision.

I know that for SD City Schools, we had about 27,000 students that weren't in school today. Some of our schools had 50 - 65% of the students gone today. And this is including elementary schools. That's the sad thing. Those young kids didn't go to protest. Their parents pulled them out today, to show that they are supporting this... and not only did their children miss a day of education, they now have truencies on their school record.