"Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 5/2/'06
"Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 5/2/'06
5/2/'06 - The following article(s) were found in the media. Several stories are provided ... with links to the original sources ... for your convenience:
- Thousands march for reform (Athens Banner-Herald)
- Thousands rally at state Capitol (Statesboro Herald)
- Georgia participation in Latino boycott light (AJC)
- Large showing at Capitol in Atlanta (Online Athens)
- Dobbs: Radical groups taking control of immigrant movement (CNN)
- Immigrant rallies pick up steam (CNN)
- Onion pickers absent amid protest (AJC)
- Thousands rally at Georgia Capitol for immigrant rights (AP)
- Immigrants Walk Off Jobs in Boycott (China Broadcast) (AP)
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http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/050206/news_20060502041.shtml
Thousands march for reform
Story Photos - Click to Enlarge
Caleb Raynor/Staff
Will Vega waves his shirt above the crowd at the downtown church Monday after the May Day rally and march. The rally also was meant to educate citizens and immigrants about problems with local and federal immigration laws as well as encourage voter registration and solidarity among workers and other members of the community. More than 1,500 showed up at the Athens rally.
David Walter Banks/Staff
Part of the crowd of at least 1,200 people walk down Dougherty Street during a rally and march in downtown Athens on Monday afternoon to show their support of immigration reform.
Caleb Raynor/Staff
Click thumbnails to view
More than 1,000 people, mostly Hispanic, took to the streets of downtown Athens on Monday afternoon shouting "Si, se puede!" - "Yes, you can!"
Handmade signs dotted the crowd of marchers, saying "Georgia, we came to work," "Let my people stay" and "We pay taxes."
In a day of protests across the state and nation, tens of thousands rallied in New York, 15,000 in Houston and 30,000 more across Florida. Smaller rallies in cities from Pennsylvania and Connecticut to Arizona and South Dakota attracted hundreds.
No one group organized the local march, but it emerged from the collective efforts of students, parishioners, immigrants and several organizations that support the local Hispanic population, said Armando Tasistro, a parishioner at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
May 1 is International Workers Day in many countries and also is St. Joseph's Day - the patron saint of workers.
"We knew May 1st was going to be a national day (of protest), so we got together to figure out what we could do locally," Tasistro said.
While many protests across the country called for immigrants to take the day off work and not spend money, organizers in Athens chose to have an evening march.
"I think the first and foremost concern is about education," said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, explaining that children should not miss school.
Also, "missing work without approval may get them fired," Gonzalez said.
Since immigrants are here primarily to work, it doesn't make sense to jeopardize their jobs, he said.
The pre-march crowd at First Presbyterian Church on Pulaski Street grew from about 30 people at 4:30 p.m. to more than 500 by 5:30 p.m. when the march began.
Although the protest backed up traffic at College Avenue and Broad Street, Athens-Clarke police Capt. Melanie Rutledge, who was monitoring the march, said the approximate 1,200- to 1,500-member rally went smoothly, and protesters were peaceful.
The march was one of the biggest Rutledge has seen in Athens and the numbers were "a lot more than we anticipated," she said, adding that organizers told police they expected about 400 people.
A counter demonstration organized by a University of Georgia student drew just four people to the UGA Arch, holding placards with slogans like "VISA: Don't Leave Home Without It" and "Support Immigrants, Deport Illegals."
The low turnout at the counter demonstration was at least partly because of the trouble UGA freshman Leslie Buchanan had getting a permit for the demonstration, she said. Buchanan said she applied for a permit two weeks ago but didn't get approval until Monday morning.
By then, she already had called the demonstration off, she said.
"I didn't want to go downtown and get arrested," said Buchanan, a dietetics major from St. Simons Island.
Once most of the marchers returned to the church grounds, Gonzalez, Father Dayro Rico of St. Joseph's and several others spoke of solidarity, encouragement and hope - primarily in Spanish.
"The legislative process is not over yet. ... We have to have patience," Gonzalez told the crowd of all ages and races, including families, college students, groups of single men and high schoolers. "Too many elected officials are using politics of division. ... Say 'no' to politics of division."
Monday's march was an opportunity Gabriella Alba of Mexico said she could not pass up and was happily surprised by the large turnout.
"I am excited," Alba said. "In Spanish, we say 'pueblo unido, jamas ser a vencidido' ... 'together is better.' "
Alba brought her 15-year-old son, David, and her year-old son, Daniel, and a sign that said "working is not a crime."
"(I) want to say to the community and to Congress: We want to work only," said Alba, who came to Athens seven years ago but still is hoping to gain citizenship for her family. "No se criminal. ... We are only people like you."
The children of immigrants are studious, which is very important because many people in Mexico have nothing, and "the United States is the life," she said. "The United States gives a lot, and we want to say thank you for everything."
• Staff writer Lee Shearer contributed to this report.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 050206
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http://www.statesboroherald.net/showstory.php?$recordID=6073
Thousands rally at state Capitol
ASSOCIATED PRESS
 |
By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA — As a group of Hispanic school children warbled ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' in stilted English, the sea of demonstrators gathered at the state Capitol erupted into applause.
It was one of the most poignant moments during a raucous rally Monday at the Capitol, where an estimated 4,500 demonstrators skipped school and work to demonstrate the power of the immigrant community and send a message to federal lawmakers considering immigration reforms.
To Warllem Domingo-Lapaz, a 30-year-old Brazilian who was smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, possible penalties from skipping his landscaping gig didn't matter.
''I'm fighting for the same rights as everyone,'' he said in Portuguese, his English still raw after only two months in the country.
Ditto for Nelio Rebairo, a fellow Brazilian who waived a sign that read ''I'm illegal but work very hard.''
Twelve years ago, Rebairo flew to the U.S. on a temporary visa and never left.
Now he works about 80 hours a week at a pair of north Georgia restaurants and must work the night shift to make up for time lost.
Still, he said, ''You've got to back your country. We've got rights. I work very hard.''
Throughout the rally, a string of speakers praised the crowd for their bravery in staying out of the shadows, urging them to keep their voices heard.
''How can one criticize the decision of these people when one hasn't experienced the poverty, when one hasn't crossed the desert, crossed a river or traveled an ocean to get here?'' asked Ligia Gomez, a 23-year-old nursing student who was born in Guatemala City.
She and most other activists who addressed the crowd advocated for change through education and hard work, keeping rancor to a minimum. Section/Page: Local/State News
Publication Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2006
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http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/0502metboycott.html
Georgia participation in Latino boycott light
Crowds substantially larger in Chicago, New York, L.A.
By TERESA BORDEN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/02/06
Illegal immigrants and their American supporters across the country stayed away from work and school Monday in a daylong protest intended to show how vital foreign-born workers are to the U.S.
Organizers called the protest a historic success, as flag-flying crowds of Latino immigrants bolstered by Americans of all colors and nationalities filled city parks and streets in most states and the issue of immigration reform dominated talk both in the halls of Congress and on local airwaves.
 MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / Associated Press | ||
| Protesters speak up for illegal immigrants Monday on Market Street in San Francisco. | ||
 BRANT SANDERLIN / Staff | ||
| Luis Capula walks past Latinos Music in Marietta, closed in solidarity. The labor boycott was muted. | ||
 M. SPENCER GREEN / Associated Press | ||
| Demonstrators fill the streets of Chicago to protest the situation of illegal immigrants. The Midwest has become a major Hispanic center in recent years, and this was one of the biggest rallies. | ||
| | ||
 |
"We are important to America and America is important to us, said Jessica Alvarez, a Latino community organizer in Washington. "We are asking the nation to give us a chance."
Police estimated 400,000 people marched through Chicago's business district and tens of thousands more rallied in New York and Los Angeles, as well as smaller American cities.
Yet with no farm labor to pick vegetables in California, few butchers to cut meat in the Midwest and a paucity of restaurant workers in New York, many politicians and pro-immigrant groups questioned whether the May Day demonstrations would cause a backlash against their cause.
In Atlanta, the impact of the boycott appeared to have a more muted effect. Though many said they agreed with the action, many more did not participate.
Industries that employ large numbers of immigrants remained open and reported little absenteeism. A demonstration at the Georgia Capitol attracted about 2,500 people, far fewer than the reported 30,000 to 60,000 that showed up at the Plaza Fiesta Shopping Mall on Buford Highway for a rally April 10. Some schools in DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett Counties reported high rates of absenteeism.
By far the most faithful participants were Hispanic businesses in solidarity wih the immigrants' cause.
"It looks like it was mostly fuse and very little dynamite," said David Whitlock, an immigration attorney who heads the immigration practice for Atlanta-based Fisher & Phillips, a labor law firm.
Whitlock said several factors contributed to dampening the effect of the boycott. Many employers and employees prepared for it by arranging ahead of time for the day off, leaders of the movement nationwide did not send a unified message, and immigrant advocates feared a backlash while immigrants feared losing their jobs and/or raids by immigration officials.
At Carnett's Car Wash in Norcross, all 14 workers reported for duty – under threat of firing. Acting general manager David Hernandez said the employees, most of whom are immigrants, were warned in advance of dire consequences if they didn't show.
"Everybody came to work," he said, noting that the location in Norcross and another in Lawrenceville were committed to opening Monday.
And if workers were absent? "We'd start looking for new people," he said.
On a typical Monday, between 30 and 50 workers show up eager to work at the Duluth day labor center run by Hispanic Community Support, said Maria Garcia, the director. Fewer than 20 showed up this Monday.
Francisco Lopez, of Hidalgo state in Mexico, dropped by, but not to work.
"I have no plans to work today even if they paid me $500 an hour," Lopez said. "Tomorrow I would go for $5 an hour."
Jesus Alfonso, a Cuba native who owns a gutter installation business, shut down on Monday. He said he was paying his three employees, who are from Honduras and are here illegally, $40 for the day off.
"If I make them work today it's like I'm making fun of them," Alfonso said as he stopped for gas on Beaver Ruin Road. "They are struggling."
But South Atlanta builder Hugh Morton, whose company, Peachtree Homes, currently has about 150 home sites under construction, said there were no reported absentees from his job sites Monday.
During a previous boycott on March 24, Morton said a number of employees from his sites missed a day of work to participate.
But this time was different.
"For us, from what we can see on the south side, it was pretty much a nonevent," Morton said.
Robert Debs, general manager of La Quinta Inn in Duluth, showed up for work on his day off partly in case his cleaning crew was short-handed.
"They're all here," said Debs, whose entire staff is Latino immigrants.
At Plaza Fiesta, which has 180 stores, only a handful of stores opened in addition to the mall's anchors, Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory. It normally attracts between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors on Mondays, but seemed deserted and unusually quiet. Manager Arturo Adonay said he left it up to individual businesses to decide whether they wanted to open.
At Amigo Plaza on Buford Highway, only two of 12 businesses were open — but not those catering to Hispanics. Perimeter Insurance had its "open" sign off, but it was open to assist current clients who needed to make payments or renew their auto insurance policies, said employee Maria Ojeda.
"We are not here today to make money," Ojeda said. Business, she said, was slower than usual.
Three of the four Georgia plants operated by Atlanta-based Gold Kist, the chicken company, were running close to normal Monday. As for the Ellijay location, CEO John Bekkers said the day's first shift was down by half. The other locations are in Athens, Carrollton and Douglas.
"We never knew what to expect, though we were expecting some disruption."
Gold Kist's lone plant in North Carolina was shut down in advance, partly because it was due for down time but also because heavy absenteeism was feared.
Three Gwinnett County schools reported absentee rates of more than 10 percent Monday, said spokeswoman Sloan Roach.
In DeKalb County, school system spokesman Dale Davis said nine schools reported more than 10 percent absenteeism. "That's unusual," he said. "We know there was a boycott. That may have been a reason the kids didn't show up."
In Cobb County, school system spokesman Jay Dillon said attendance was a mixed bag. Some schools reported Hispanic absenteeism as high as 35 percent, but of 60 schools, he said, between 35 and 40 reported little or no change, "an improvement over the last protest day," Dillon said.
At the state Capitol rally, many in the crowd waved U.S. flags. A small group sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" — in English, in apparent response to a flap over a recent recording released in Spanish. After the song, dozens of red, white and blue balloons were released into the air.
Occasional chants of "USA! USA! USA!" erupted from the crowd. Some held aloft signs, reading: "We are America," We're here to stay, we're not leaving," and "Legalization Yes, Raids No."
"We just want to work and live with dignity," said rally participant Jose Maldonado of Covington. Maldonado, 40, said he became a U.S. citizen through marriage. "We are hard workers. I've been here 20 years and I've never asked for anything from the government."
Some of the signs, and the speakers, invoked the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. in his hometown.
"This is the land of Martin Luther King Jr.," speaker Rolando Santiago of Atlanta told the crowd. "Unfortunately, he is not here. But he showed us the way. I also have a dream ... that one day we will all be respected as humans."
Lilly Rockwell in Washington and Bob Keefe in Los Angeles contributed to this article.
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http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/050206/news_20060502044.shtml
Large showing at Capitol in Atlanta
ATLANTA - As a group of Hispanic school children warbled "The Star-Spangled Banner" in stilted English, the sea of demonstrators gathered at the Georgia state Capitol erupted into applause.
It was one of the most poignant moments during a raucous rally Monday at the Capitol, where an estimated 4,500 demonstrators skipped school and work to demonstrate the power of the immigrant community and send a message to federal lawmakers considering immigration reforms.
Hundreds of thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants across the country 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 New Orleans, 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.
To Warllem Domingo-Lapaz, a 30-year-old Brazilian who was smuggled into the United States from Mexico, possible penalties from skipping his landscaping gig in Atlanta didn't matter.
"I'm fighting for the same rights as everyone," Domingo-Lapaz said in Portuguese, his English still raw after only two months in the country.
Ditto for Nelio Rebairo, a fellow Brazilian who waved a sign that read, "I'm illegal but work very hard."
Throughout the rally, a string of speakers praised the crowd for their bravery in staying out of the shadows, urging them to keep their voices heard.
"How can one criticize the decision of these people when one hasn't experienced the poverty, when one hasn't crossed the desert, crossed a river or traveled an ocean to get here?" asked Ligia Gomez, a 23-year-old nursing student who was born in Guatemala City.
Stores in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods in Metro Atlanta were shuttered for the day because so many Hispanics joined the protest. In addition, industries that rely on immigrant workers clearly were 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.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 050206
---------------------------------
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/01/dobbs.immigrantprotests/index.html
Dobbs: Radical groups taking control of immigrant movement
By Lou Dobbs
CNN
USA Today headlined today's demonstrations and boycott "On Immigration's Front Lines." The New York Times headlines its story "With Calls for Boycott by Immigrants, Employers Gird for Unknown." The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times are both calling its coverage "The Immigration Debate."
These major newspapers obviously don't want to disturb their readers with the information that today's demonstrations and boycott are about illegal immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens.
CNN and Fox News are both using a banner calling their coverage "A Day Without Immigrants," while MSNBC is titling its coverage "Immigrant Anger."
Most of the mainstream media has been absolutely co-opted by the open borders and illegal immigration advocates. I'm not opposed to demonstrations and protests of any kind, even by those who are not citizens of this country, because one way or another, demonstrations and protests enrich and invigorate the national debate and raise the public consciousness of truth.
But only one newspaper, to its credit, reported that illegal aliens and their supporters' boycott of the national economy on the First of May is clear evidence that radical elements have seized control of the movement. The Washington Post, alone among national papers, reported that ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) has become an active promoter of the national boycott.
Some illegal immigration and open borders activists in the Hispanic community are deeply concerned about the involvement of the left-wing radical group. But others, like Juan Jose Gutierrez, whom I've interviewed a number of times over the past several months, manages to be both director of Latino Movement USA and a representative of ANSWER.
As Gutierrez told us on my show, "The time has come...where we need to stand up and make a statement. We need to do what the American people did when they pulled away from the British crown. And I am sure that back in those days many people were concerned that was radical action."
Just how significant is the impact of leftists within the illegal immigration movement? It is no accident that they chose May 1 as their day of demonstration and boycott. It is the worldwide day of commemorative demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and even anarchic organizations.
Supporters of the boycott have made no secret of their determination to try to shut down schools, businesses and entire cities. Much of Los Angeles' 7th Street produce market, which supplies thousands of local restaurants and markets, is closed today. Many meat-packing companies like Cargill and Tyson are also closing many of their plants.
"The meat packers are confirming what we know," says University of Maryland economics professor Peter Morici, "and that is that this large group of illegal aliens in the United States is lowering the wage rate of semiskilled workers, people who are high school dropouts or high school graduates with minimal training."
In fact, a meat-packing job paid $19 an hour in 1980, but today that same job pays closer to $9 an hour, according to the Labor Department. That's entirely consistent with what we've been reporting -- that illegal aliens depress wages for U.S. workers by as much as $200 billion a year in addition to placing a tremendous burden on hospitals, schools and other social services.
Radicalism is not confined to Gutierrez and Latino Movement USA. Ernesto Nevarez of the L.A. Port Collective is promising to shut down the Port of Los Angeles today: "[Transportation and commerce] will come to a grinding halt. ...They are going to put a wall along the border with Mexico. We're going to put a wall between us and the ocean. And those containers ain't going to move."
No matter which flag demonstrators and protestors carry today, their leadership is showing its true colors to all who will see.
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http://www.cnn.com/
Immigrant rallies pick up steam
Demonstrators across the United States -- including about 300,000 in Chicago -- missed work and school Monday, protesting Congress' attempts to toughen immigration laws. The "Day Without Immigrants" rallies are intended to show the economic power of illegal and legal immigrants.
• Audio Slide Show: Day laborers working in homes
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http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/breaking/index.html
AJC.com > Breaking News
Onion pickers absent amid protest
By Mike Tierney | Monday, May 1, 2006, 05:24 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bland Farms in Glennville, which claims to be the largest grower and shipper of Vidalia sweet onions, weathered high absenteeism on Monday in the midst of its harvest season.
Owner Delbert Bland said one of his three sheds, which normally is occupied by 60 workers, was vacant. The other two sheds were slightly below capacity.
"It's not something that caused us to shut down," Bland said. "We're just running lean."
Asked how he would handle the AWOL employees, Bland said, "I'll probably just forget about it. Two wrongs don't make a right."
But he said the no-shows likely will be "written up" for missing a day's work. Three such reports result in corrective action, Bland said.
Bland does not expect a repeat of worker walkouts.
"These people want to work," he said.
He can only hope so; this is the third of six weeks in the harvest period.
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http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/14474842.htm
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=74724
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/14474842.htm
Thousands rally at Georgia Capitol for immigrant rights
GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press
ATLANTA - As a group of Hispanic school children warbled "The Star-Spangled Banner" in stilted English, the sea of demonstrators gathered at the state Capitol erupted into applause.
It was one of the most poignant moments during a raucous rally Monday at the Capitol, where an estimated 4,500 demonstrators skipped school and work to demonstrate the power of the immigrant community and send a message to federal lawmakers considering immigration reforms.
To Warllem Domingo-Lapaz, a 30-year-old Brazilian who was smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, possible penalties from skipping his landscaping gig didn't matter.
"I'm fighting for the same rights as everyone," he said in Portuguese, his English still raw after only two months in the country.
Ditto for Nelio Rebairo, a fellow Brazilian who waived a sign that read "I'm illegal but work very hard."
Twelve years ago, Rebairo flew to the U.S. on a temporary visa and never left. Now he works about 80 hours a week at a pair of north Georgia restaurants and must work the night shift to make up for time lost.
Still, he said, "You've got to back your country. We've got rights. I work very hard."
Throughout the rally, a string of speakers praised the crowd for their bravery in staying out of the shadows, urging them to keep their voices heard.
"How can one criticize the decision of these people when one hasn't experienced the poverty, when one hasn't crossed the desert, crossed a river or traveled an ocean to get here?" asked Ligia Gomez, a 23-year-old nursing student who was born in Guatemala City.
She and most other activists who addressed the crowd advocated for change through education and hard work, keeping rancor to a minimum.
But organizers had to apologize after one of the handful of Nation of Islam members standing behind the podium throughout the two-hour event took the microphone.
"We can let them wipe their own ass and build their own homes," Ernesto Muhammad told the crowd, which cheered him loudly as he was shooed offstage.
Moments later, organizer Tony Barrosa apologized for allowing Muhammad to speak. "They do have a right like everyone else," he said. "But we do not have the same beliefs."
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http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/05/02/53@84032.htm
|
(Jemsie Flores reacts to a speaker during a rally on the steps of the Capitol Building in Atlanta, Monday, May 1, 2006. Photo: AP)
Related: Immigrants Plan Nationwide Day of Protest 
From Los Angeles to Chicago, New Orleans to Houston, 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 was among thousands attending a rally in Denver with her husband and their third-grade daughter. "We butter each other's bread. They need us as much as we need them."
An estimated 300,000 people gathered by early afternoon in Chicago, and hundreds of thousands more were expected later at rallies in New York and Los Angeles. Smaller rallies were planned in more than 50 other cities across the nation, even in such far-flung places as Connecticut and South Dakota.
Ernest Calderon, 38, came to the Chicago rally with a sign listing the names of his heroes: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Pancho Villa.
"Our heroes understood that they had to fight for freedom and democracy, and we are here doing the same," said Calderon, a concrete worker who came from Mexico and gained his citizenship more than a decade ago. "We are here for the same reasons."
In the Los Angeles area, normally bustling restaurants and markets were dark and truckers avoided the nation's largest shipping port. In downtown Los Angeles, it appeared about one in three small businesses was closed.
Industries that rely on immigrant workers were clearly affected, though the impact was not uniform.
None of the 175 seasonal laborers who normally work Mike Collins' 500 acres of Vidalia onion fields in southeastern Georgia showed up Monday.
"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 one 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."
Beef and chicken processing plants also felt the pinch.
Eight of 14 Perdue Farms chicken plants closed for lack of workers. 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, according to spokesman Gary Michaelson. Most of the closures were in states such as Iowa and Nebraska. Poultry plants also closed in North Carolina and Georgia.
In Minnesota, however, managers at eight plants operated by Hormel Foods Corp. reported normal levels of absences, said spokeswoman Julie Craven.
The sites where day laborers normally wait for employers became places for political statements.
The construction and nursery industries were among the hardest hit by the work stoppage in Florida.
Bill Spann, executive vice president of the Association of General Contractors, 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," says 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."
The impact on schools was not so clear. In Santa Ana, the Orange County seat, about 3,000 middle and high school students were absent. The 62,000-student district is about 90 percent Hispanic.
Not far away in the normally bustling Port of Long Beach, about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, was eerily quiet, with many truck drivers avoiding work. Lunch truck operator Sammy Rodriguez, 77, said 100 trucks normally line up in the mornings outside the California United Terminals. On Monday, he said, just three or four showed up.
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, human nature is that you don't really know what you have until you don"t have it," he said.
(Demonstrators holding U.S. and Guatemalan flags gather in front of the Texas County Courthouse prior to the 'Day Without Immigrants' rally, Monday, May 1, 2006, in Guymon, Okla. Photo: AP)
-----------------------------------
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