Latino immigrants and their supporters will take to the streets again on Monday, holding vigils, marches and work stoppages in several cities across the nation.
In recent rallies, they’ve turned out in surprising numbers, including 500,000 in Los Angeles and more than 50,000 in Denver’s Civic Center Park last month. Organizers say as many as 3 million will take some kind of action on Monday in as many as 60 cities, including Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction.
They’re protesting immigration reform legislation that would, among other things, declare illegal immigrants felons.
In making their point, they’ve sometimes threatened to disrupt businesses. There are as many as 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. What if they all suddenly stopped working?
So far, that prospect doesn’t look any more likely than the hope by some that they might all be deported someday.
In Philadelphia, about 5,000 immigrants gathered on Feb. 14 for a “day without an immigrant.” Downtown civic groups there said the economic impact was barely perceptible.
Organizer Ricardo Diaz said the next rally there, on Monday, will be larger, and will include Asian, African and Russian immigrants. But the gathering now has a less-threatening name, “National Day of Action on Immigration Rights.”
In Telluride, organizers plan a “Day without Hispanics” for Monday. (Perhaps in Telluride, a day without dreadlocked, latte-sipping hippies would be more devastating.)
Organizer Oscar Meza plans to lead a small caravan north from the ski area to Grand Junction, where there is a downtown march planned for mid-day. Organizer Karen Sherman-Perez said she heard of only one company, a temporary staffing agency, that may have to shut its doors for the day.
In Denver, organizers plan an evening candlelight vigil at Sloan’s Lake Park, where people will commemorate thousands who’ve died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. In Colorado Springs, there are plans only for a press conference.
Peter Meersman, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said he knows of no restaurant that plans to close on Monday because of a shortage of Latino workers. Nor did any close during the March 25 rally.
That rally was on a Saturday afternoon; the next will be Monday evening – not exactly rush hour for restaurants or other businesses. And organizers say protesters are generally asking their employers for time off instead of surprising them.
“We’re sympathetic,” said Meersman. “It’s a complex issue, but the solution of deporting all these ‘lawbreakers’ is impractical.”
The rallies have not gone unnoticed by some Washington lawmakers, who’ve crafted competing legislation that would help illegal immigrants obtain legal status and citizenship. But last week, a compromise plan on immigration reform stalled. It won’t be revisited until after a two-week Easter recess.
Immigration reform hardliners hardly seem shaken. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Littleton recently told The Denver Post he hopes there’s a rally every weekend. “Nothing … could have helped our cause more than the display of hundreds of thousands of people waving Mexican flags and essentially demanding the right to violate the law,” he said.
His legalism is in contrast to laws that haven’t been rigorously enforced for years. Our borders aren’t secure. There is not an adequate system for determining immigration status. U.S. businesses show hospitality to illegal workers. And the government does little to discourage it.
A political solution will not answer what is essentially an economic problem. These people come to here to work, not necessarily to become citizens.
“Most Mexicans I know would rather work and then go home,” said Diaz, the Philadelphia rally organizer. “The American Dream is buying a house with a picket fence. The Mexican dream is to come here to work, save enough money and go back to live in your village.”
Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to Lewis at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-820-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
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