Immigrant workers powerfully asserted their importance Monday, making clear they are vital to California's economy. Without us, they declared, industries would tremble, jobs go undone and prices rise.
Dolls from China, DVD players from Japan and shirts from Malaysia piled up at the ports. Lettuce wasn't picked in Blythe and strawberries languished in Oxnard. On one block of L.A.'s Koreatown, only two out of nine businesses were open. The garment district was nearly deserted.
By itself, the "Day Without Immigrants" won't hurt the economy in the long run, analysts said. Shoppers will quickly go back to shopping and workers to working.
The economic message, however, was emphatic and unmistakable.
"This was a reality check," said Economic Roundtable President Daniel Flaming. "You can't wish away these workers. They are rooted in the community. Not everyone realized that before."
Flaming and others have extensively studied the role played by recent arrivals, both legal and illegal. The protests provided vivid evidence that the bulk of the country's estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants don't just cut lawns and wash dishes in restaurants.
This is an unusual protest movement. There's little precedent in American history for a simultaneous combination of consumer boycotts, demonstrations and work stoppages. And there's none for a labor rights struggle that is cheered on by many employers.
"I don't remember hearing a single major business group complaining about today's actions," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
Employers haven't suddenly grown more compassionate. In this era of low unemployment, they are eager to have sources of cheap labor. And they fear the sanctions that would accompany a serious crackdown on illegal hiring.
Beyond this, Levy said, there is a sense that everyone is complicit. "I've hired a housekeeper or a gardener or a baby-sitter where I certainly didn't check their papers," he said. "There's an acknowledgment here that we're all involved."
The industries hit the hardest Monday were agriculture, long the domain of immigrants, and, somewhat surprisingly, the ports.
At the nation's largest seaport complex, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as few as 10% of the truckers showed up to haul freight.
"It's eerie, looking out at the Vincent Thomas Bridge with no trucks on it. It just looks kind of flat and lonely," said Teresa Adams Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles.
