A day without immigrants | Chicago Tribune

A day without immigrants
Published May 1, 2006
If all goes according to plan, hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country will take Monday off from work to give the rest of us a taste of what life would be like without them.
While they‘ll be visible at dozens of marches and rallies, including one in downtown Chicago, their absence from the workplace is meant to make a greater impression. Factories won‘t function, lawns won‘t be mowed, tables won‘t be bused and hotel beds won‘t be made. If Americans realize how much they depend on immigrant labor, the reasoning goes, they‘ll stop ranting about deporting those freeloading foreign lawbreakers and tell their congressmen to pass a law that makes those workers feel welcome.
But the "day without immigrants" strategy has two inherent risks. One is that it won‘t inflict enough pain to make its point. The other is that it will.
Maybe citizens will get by for a day without immigrants. Or maybe they‘ll get mad.
The only certainty is that those who walk off the job will be out a day‘s pay.
A series of huge demonstrations in the last two months has seized the public‘s attention, but not necessarily its sympathy. Those who were already moved by the immigrants‘ plight tended to find the marches inspiring, even reminiscent of the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. Others were galled that crowds of people who had sneaked into the country and worked here illegally for years would now demand the same rights as law-abiding immigrants.
While the public debate seems polarized, Americans and their leaders are not necessarily entrenched. Polls show most think the current immigration system is broken and border enforcement should be the government‘s most urgent priority. But most also favor a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for at least some of the 12 million who are here illegally. There is room for compromise, and the Senate is back in session, working toward a comprehensive bill that addresses all those points.
But it will be hard to pass that bill, and harder still to get the House to go along. That‘s why some activists have urged immigrants to think twice about walking off the job on Monday.
A work boycott is a confrontational tactic that might be employed in a bigger way at a better time, they say.
If the Senate were poised to pass a bill that didn‘t make allowances for the immigrants already in the U.S., then a sustained strike could dramatize its potential fallout. A one-day walkout now could backfire, antagonizing the public at a time when compromise is within reach.
This internal disagreement could end up diluting participation in Monday‘s strike, making it more likely that consumers, only mildly inconvenienced, will shrug off its message.
Will a day without immigrants shift public sentiment? And if so, in which direction?
While wary of the risks, immigrants have few options. Social change is rarely accomplished by waiting politely for others to do the right thing. Because they can‘t vote, millions of undocumented workers must find a way to make their voices heard in the crucial debate over their future. This is one way, and Monday is the day.