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Washington Sees Scattered Participation in Boycott
The spotty effectiveness of the boycott could be seen at two stores that share a building in Herndon.
At a Duron paint store, which caters mainly to Latinos, sales were down by about half, manager Robert Cassell III said.
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National Boycotts for Immigrants Immigrants and their supporters took to the streets on Monday, advocating for immigrant rights and opposing legislation that would stiffen penalties for those arriving illegally. The Immigration Debate
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"It's definitely dropped off," Cassell said. "...The few [customers] that came here said, 'Look I need to make money.'"
However, at a Korean-owned Latino market next door, a steady stream of customers came in to shop.
The store's managers, Chris Suh and Sam Jung, said they allowed six of their Latino employees to stay home.
"We feel solidarity to this community," Suh said. "We've been good citizens of this county. But we also need solidarity with this community. We're trying to build good relationships on both sides."
Nearby, at a day-laborer center in Herndon, 70 mostly Latino men had shown up by 9 a.m., compared to 100 men looking for work on a normal day.
"We have to pay rent, the bills. I don't want to lose my job," said Romero Domingo, 40, an immigrant from Honduras who came to the day laborer site in Herndon but was not selected to work.
Salvadoran immigrant Mario Martinez, 42, who also came to the center to find work this morning, said the right to decide whether to join in the boycott was central to the reasons many immigrants come to the United States.
"Some want to march. Some want to work," Martinez said. "In this country, it's our freedom to choose."
Bill Threlkeld, director of the nonprofit Project Hope and Harmony, which runs the site, said 14 employers came to the center to hire workers, compared to more than two dozen most mornings.
Police in Los Angeles said they expected a rally that could draw as many as a half-million people. Marchers headed to the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta this morning, and a late-afternoon demonstration also was planned in New York's Union Square.
