May 1st has historically been known as International Workers Day, and as such has born witness to numerous strikes, rallies, and protests through the years (including the tragically violent Haymarket Riot of 1886). Now, May 1st can add another historic marker to its list: May Day 2006, A Day without an Immigrant.

Internationally observed as The Great American Boycott, many undocumented workers wanted to show the US what “A Day without an Immigrant” would really be like. Organizers asked immigrants to go on a one day strike and to refrain from buying anything, intending to highlight the important economic and social role immigrants play in the US.

What would the US really be like without immigrants?

Well, of course, it wouldn’t really exist. America is a nation of immigrants (disclosure: author is a second generation immigrant.) The US has long prided itself on the “tired and poor” who survived the long trip to the New World and built a great nation, having only ambition in common. Many of the masses who came through Ellis Island had no documentation. The US was built on the backs of these “illegal” immigrants, and groups from all over the world have created the industry, economy and culture that is America. Along the way, laws have been created to manage and monitor the flow of people in and out of the country. Since the 1700’s, naturalization laws have allowed residents to gain citizenship after a period of time, and the Fourteenth Amendment in 1865 gave citizenship to all children born in the US. Quotas and controls have been established and torn down throughout US history, with changes being made as various groups become more or less desirable, and now America is calling for change, bringing longstanding immigration policies into question.

On May Day, we saw hundreds of thousands of immigrants take to the streets to represent the millions of undocumented workers, mostly Latino, living in the US. Just what is the impact of this newest wave of hopeful Americans?

While it’s hard to get numbers on a group that is living beyond paperwork, here are a few facts:
• An estimated 90% of California crop pickers are undocumented.
• Undocumented workers contribute about $7 billion every year to Social Security and get no SS benefits in return.
• The American Farm Bureau predicts a loss of up to 9 billion dollars in agricultural production without undocumented workers.
• These workers pay rent, buy food, and thus pay significant housing and sales tax.
• American taxpayers are paying up to $11.2 billion every year for the schooling and medical treatment of undocumented workers.

While this group has a clear impact and is here to stay, the lack of regulation is punishing both American workers and legal immigrants, not to mention the illegals, whose status forces them into the underbelly of a wealthy society. This deeply political issue is being debated in the Senate, and hopefully a fair solution is not too far in the future.

Originally published at InternationalistMag.com on May 4, 2006