We chew the numbers on the May 1 boycott so you don't have to.
It was a great day for a picnic.
The sun was shining. The barbecue was smoking. Kids were playing futbol in the brownish
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green grass at Franklin Miles Park. And then there were several hundred people-many dressed in white-standing side-by-side shouting
igualdad!
(equality) and
Si, se puede!
(Yes, we can!) in unison.
Ah, May Day in Santa Fe.
Thousands of people from across New Mexico joined millions from across the country on May 1 for the national "Day Without Immigrants" boycott to lobby for immigration reform. Hundreds of people in Santa Fe played hooky from school and work while dozens of local businesses shut their doors in a citywide expression of support.
Scott Markman took the day off work and drove down from Abiquiu with his son Kevin to Franklin Miles Park, where he stood a few hundred yards from the stage wearing a "God Bless America" sign around his neck.
"This is a country of immigrants," Markman says. "That's what makes this country so great. I hope the message that will be sent is that immigrants bring a great deal to this country."
Michael Maestas came to express support for both immigrants and the
rising tide of activism that has swept the country over the last several weeks as politicians bicker over immigration
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reform in Washington, DC.
"I was a part of the Chicano movement," Maestas says. "Social activism has been basically missing for the better part of three decades and I think it's about time we see it again."
Locally, the immigration reform
movement is being spearheaded by the advocacy organization Somos Un Pueblo Unido. Marcela Diaz, director of Somos, says the work of her organization-which sponsored the "Worker's Day Family Picnic" at Franklin Miles Park-is only beginning.
"We're going to keep mobilizing until we have real immigration reform," Diaz says.
If she isn't letting up, neither are we. Which is why we decided to forgo the hot dogs and soccer in the park to crunch the following immigration facts and figures:
• Rough estimate of the total attendance at the "Worker's Day Family Picnic" at Franklin Miles Park on May 1:
500. Give or take a ciento.
• Number of businesses in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico that were closed on May 1 in support of immigration reform:
52.
• Number of Santa Fe businesses that remained open on May 1 but still pledged support for the boycott:
10.
• Number of Santa Fe organic ice cream shops closed for the boycott:
1 (Tara's Organic Ice Cream).
• Number of businesses that supported the boycott in Albuquerque:
74.
• Name of the "hot dogs Americanos" cart at the Worker's Day Family Picnic:
Mr. Polish.
• Estimated percentage of students absent from south side schools like Capital High and Cesar Chavez Elementary for the May 1 boycott:
50 percent.
• Students at Nava Elementary-which neighbors Franklin Miles Park-who were absent for the boycott:
65.
• Approximate number of illegal immigrants currently living in the United States:
11.1 million.
• Estimated number of illegal immigrants currently residing in New Mexico:
50,000-75,000.
• Number of archbishops from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe who signed a pastoral letter supporting immigration reform:
1 (Archbishop Michael J Sheehan).
• According to that pastoral letter, the percentage of agricultural workers in the United States who are foreign-born:
80.
• The minimum amount of money a person has to invest in order to earn one of 10,000 "Immigration through Investment" visas offered by the federal government each year:
$1 million.
• Percentage of funding increase for US border security since Sept. 11, 2001:
700.
• The estimated increase in illegal immigrants entering the United States in 2004 compared to 2001:
+13,000.
• The estimated decrease of legal permanent immigrants who entered the United States during that time:
-123,000.
• Estimated percentage of the 14,000 patients who visit La Familia Medical Center each year who are immigrants:
20, or about 2,800 patients a year.
• Estimated amount, in dollars, of remittance income sent back to Mexico from nationals living abroad in 2005:
$20 billion.
• Estimated percentage of people (using US Census projections) over the age of 5 in Santa Fe County who live in a home where a language other than English is spoken:
37.
• Rough percentage estimate of foreign-born persons residing in the city of Santa Fe in 2006:
between 10 and 12 percent, or roughly around 6,000 people.
• Number of posted comments on the Web version of the Santa Fe New Mexican story "Immigration protests, walkouts planned across New Mexico" as of the morning of May 2:
88.
• Number of those comments expressing direct support for the boycott:
0.
