Economic boycott planned next in push for immigration reform

PHOENIX (By Daniel González and Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic) April 12, 2006 — The marches and rallies are over. Now get ready for the boycotts.

Organizers in Phoenix and several other cities are ramping up plans to stage a nationwide economic boycott on May 1, hoping to ride the momentum of Monday's massive demonstrations in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

The organizers want supporters to stay home from work and school and spend no money May 1 in an effort to call attention to the economic contributions of undocumented immigrants.

Undocumented immigrants can't vote, but they wield considerable economic clout, which organizers hope to leverage into pressing Congress to pass legislation to allow the estimated 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States gain legal status.

Still, experts say single-day economic boycotts usually are more symbolic and the impact tends to be short-lived. There is also concern that some Valley immigrants, many of whom live from paycheck to paycheck in low-wage jobs, may be growing weary of staying away from work after participating in two demonstrations that have galvanized more than 100,000 in the Valley.

Samuel Elizondo walked in the March 24 protest along 24th Street, which drew at least 20,000 people, and then again in Monday's march from the state fairgrounds to the Capitol. He said it is becoming increasingly harder for immigrants to miss work.

"Fixing this situation is essential, but it's hard for many Hispanic families to take the day off because they need the money," said Elizondo, who manages a 100-unit apartment complex in Phoenix.

Elizondo said he's lucky. Like Monday's march, the May 1 boycott falls on a Monday, his day off, so he won't have to miss work to participate. Even so, "I can do the other part and not spend any money," he said.

Leaders of the coalition behind Monday's Somos America march plan to meet today to discuss their next steps. They said they have not had time to begin planning for the boycott, but some organizers said they would participate.

"We will undoubtedly be involved, but we haven't made any arrangements yet," said Roberto Reveles, a member of the coalition that organized Monday's march and rally.

Dollar signs

The so-called Great American Boycott, planned for May 1, coincides with Labor Day in Mexico and International Workers' Day. It will take place a week after the Senate is scheduled to again take up the issue of immigration reform after a bill that would have allowed many undocumented immigrants to gain legal status unraveled last week.

Elias Bermudez, president of the Phoenix group, Immigrants Without Borders, said the boycott is intended to demonstrate that undocumented immigrants are an integral part of the economy and they deserve to earn legal status.

"We need to be recognized as contributors to the country," he said.

Immigrant-rights advocates are planning boycotts in several cities nationwide, but so far the boycotts are not as well coordinated as the April 10 demonstrations, said Germonique Jones, spokeswoman for the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., an immigrant rights group.

"By then, we will be able to see whether the Senate has reached a compromise on immigration reform," said Marissa Graciosa, spokeswoman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Amelia Frank-Vitale, a labor union organizer with Unite Here, predicts many Valley restaurants and hotels will be hit hard by the May 1 boycott, considering the impact of Monday's march and rally, which forced many restaurants, businesses, and construction sites to close or slow production for the day.

In Arizona, legal and undocumented Mexican immigrants have a buying power of $4.2 billion, according to a study by Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management. Undocumented immigrants make up as much as 12.2 percent of the state's workforce, and they are most concentrated in the construction, hospitality and restaurant industries, the study said.

Nationally, undocumented immigrants make up 4.3 percent to 8 percent of the civilian workforce, according to recent studies by the Pew Hispanic Center and Bear Stearns Asset Management.

No long-term impact

While economic boycotts sustained for months or years can cause severe economic impacts, one-day boycotts tend not to have long-term impact, although they can cause temporary disruptions, experts said.

That's because what participants don't buy one day, they'll buy the next, said Christopher Thornberg, senior economist at Anderson Forecast at UCLA.

"It's business delayed, not business canceled," Thornberg said. "They make people aware of what's going on, but it doesn't cause any economic impact. It's a pain in the butt, but they get their point across."

Small businesses and industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor could be most affected by the May 1 boycott, though likely not enough to significantly reduce overall sales.

"The reasons that those industries provide services so cheaply is because of who they employ," said Tracy Clark, economist with Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. "For small businesses, one day's (profit loss) probably isn't going to put them out of business, but it isn't going to make making payroll any easier."