Boycott Means Rallies, Closed Businesses in ABQ Metro Area
By Felicia Fonseca/
Associated Press
More than a thousand people gathered Monday in a large park near historic Old Town, Albuquerque's original Spanish townsite, in support of a nationwide Day Without Immigrants.
The boycott is "the only way they are going to feel the pinch of what we're all about,'' said Jose De Jesus Cervantes of Torreon, Mexico, Spanish education facilitator for Bernalillo Public Schools.
"If they let us be, it can be business as usual,'' he said. "If not, we can do drastic things like boycotts. The government needs to listen to us.''
Hispanics make up the majority of the population in New Mexico "and we need to be respected,'' he said.
The nationwide boycott, aimed at raising awareness of the economic power of immigrants, was organized by activists angered by proposed federal legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants.
Cervantes does not think there's anything wrong with people coming to the United States to work and said they should not be made criminals for being here.
Rudy Perez, 16, said Highland High School officials told her she would be suspended if she didn't show up for school Monday. But she said she wanted to attend the rally to support her parents, immigrants who have been in the United States for more than 20 years.
Tough proposed immigrant laws "could destroy a lot of families and that's not right,'' said Perez, who attended the rally with her two brothers, a cousin, two aunts and an uncle.
Her 20-year-old brother, Adrian Perez — who asked for the day off from his job at the University of New Mexico — said, "We helped build America and made it strong.''
Those attending the rally in Albuquerque — most wearing white — listened to bands and watched performances by Aztec dancers as they waited to march downtown for a rally. Organizers shouted from the stage, "We want justice; we want it now.''
Alejandro Barraza of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was on the job at a construction site in nearby Rio Rancho despite the call for immigrants to stay away from work.
The boycott, he said, doesn't address the failure of Congress to pass legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States.
"If it solved all the problems, yes, but it doesn't,'' he said.
More than 125 businesses in Albuquerque and Santa Fe closed Monday, and rallies or picnics were held throughout the state.
Hundreds of people brought their families to Franklin Miles Park in Santa Fe, where organizers offered food, live music entertainment for children.
"We know we had about 900 bottles of water that are all gone,'' said Marcella Diaz of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a community group. "We think we had well over 1,000 people through the day and now we're still continuing to get folks.''
Darby McQuade of Santa Fe's Jackalope store, which carries Southwestern and Mexican crafts, gave immigrant employees time off with pay to attend the capital city picnic.
He said he did that because immigrants have helped the 30-year-old business grow. Jackalope has a staff of about 50 — about half of them immigrants, he said.
"I spend a lot of time in Mexico and I know a lot of the families. ... I know how hard working and honest they are,'' McQuade said.
He's not sure whether the boycott will be helpful, but said: "I think that it's very important especially that our legislators are aware of how much employers depend on immigrants, and the entire (U.S.) economy, actually. It's tied in not just with jobs, but also with buying.''
Some Albuquerque high schools reported more absences than normal. School district spokesman Rigo Chavez said West Mesa High normally would have about 100 students missing, but reported 200 to 250 absences, while Highland reported about 100 students out Monday, compared to 75 normally.
In Las Cruces, high school attendance was about normal, but many elementary schools had higher-than-average absentees, ranging from 8 percent to 24 percent, said district spokeswoman Jo Galvan.
Demonstrations nationwide thinned the work force in businesses from meatpacking plants to construction. Although the impact was hard to judge immediately, economists said there can be no dispute that immigrants wield significant clout in the economy.
"If illegal immigration came to a standstill, it would disrupt the economy,'' said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "It would lead to higher prices for many goods and services, and some things literally would not get done.''
More than 35 million people in the United States were born in other countries, including an estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants.
The Pew Hispanic Center said illegal immigrants make up about 5 percent of the U.S. labor force, and that more than 90 percent of immigrant men are part of the labor force, compared with 83 percent of men born in the U.S.
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