Washington Sees Scattered Participation in Boycott
Thousands of Immigrants March in Cities Across the Nation

By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 1, 2006 6:33 PM

Washington area immigrants do not appear to be heeding the call for a national economic boycott in overwhelming numbers today, although some businesses have closed because employees are absent and some public schools are reporting high absentee rates among Hispanic students.

In other cities across the United States, however, large groups of predominantly Hispanic immigrants took to the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Los Angeles and Chicago. Smaller numbers appeared to have rallied in New York, Atlanta and other large cities. Some large companies said they had to close plants because some of their immigrant workers took the day off.

In the Washington region, leaders of immigrant groups said the real impact of the boycott would not be fully known until later this afternoon or evening.

Anecdotal accounts -- and earlier interviews with advocates who were divided over whether immigrants should participate in the boycott -- suggested that while some were staying home from work, their action was not widespread.

More than half the construction workers on projects at Washington Dulles International Airport did not show up for work today, airport spokesperson Tara Hamilton said. She said work continued on all projects, but in a limited manner.

In Montgomery County, 48 percent of the Hispanic students at Col. Zak Magruder High in Rockville were absent today, a spokesman for the public school system said. In Prince William County, more than half of the Hispanic students at Stonewall Jackson High in Manassas did not come to school. Fairfax County schools reported higher than usual absenteeism. District schools said attendance was normal.

This afternoon, a march was planned to begin at Malcolm X Park in the District. Only a few hundred people showed up.

The impact on the local restaurant industry has been "all over the board," said Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

For some restaurants, it's business as usual, she said. Other restaurants have used contingency plans, asking chefs and managers to pull double duty to make sure they were fully staffed.

But some restaurants were forced to close, including La Chaumiere in Georgetown, a Wendy's in Arlington and a Corner Bakery in downtown Washington.

In the District's heavily immigrant Mount Pleasant neighborhood, about half the shops and businesses were closed for at least part of the day.

Some local activists had predicted that thousands would participate in today's boycott, which asks immigrants to refrain from buying goods and to stay home from work and school. But immigrant groups who have spoken out against the action said they fear that the immigration reform movement is being commandeered to promote political causes beyond immigration.

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.

"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.

Some major national firms that rely heavily on immigrant labor planned to close for the day.

Perdue Farms said about half of its chicken processing plants would close, and Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, said nine of its 15 beef and pork plants will not operate.

Gallo Wines, of Sonoma, Calif., gave its 150 employees the day off, and McDonald's Corp. said some of its restaurants may close early or offer only drive-thru service, the Associated Press reported.

Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, suspended all deliveries today in support of the boycott, according to CNN .

In the Washington area, some business owners said they would close, and several construction firms said they would allow their employees to take the day off. Jim Davis of Davis Construction said he shut down some construction sites in the Washington area today. But at one site, he said, laborers worked on Saturday and Sunday to make up for the lost day.

Only one of the 47 organizations that sponsored Washington's first big immigration rally last month -- Mexicans Without Borders -- has publicly endorsed today's boycott.

But Ricardo Juarez, coordinator of Mexicans Without Borders in Northern Virginia, predicted today's boycott would produce a "real economic impact" in the Washington region.

Staff writers Krissah Williams, Karin Brulliard, Steven Ginsberg, Bill Turque, Theresa Vargas, Debbi Wilgoren, Yolanda Woodlee, Ian Shapira, Maria Glod , Nancy Trejos , Theola Labbe and Lori Aratani contributed to this report.