US Hispanic groups, buoyed by massive weekend protests against a proposed immigration crackdown, are planning a major boycott of American life dubbed a "day without Latinos," leaders said on Tuesday. Organizers of the planned May 1 "A day without Latinos or a day without immigrants" boycott will ask immigrants to put down tools, leave their places of work and classrooms, shut their business and take to the streets en masse to protest a bill that would criminalize illegal immigration.
Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association, one of the organizers of a massive protest in Los Angeles that saw at least 500,000 protest on Saturday, said the protest would send a stern message to Washington.
"We are looking forward to a major action in all large US cities where immigrants make up a significant proportion of the workforce," he told AFP.
"We are asking people not to go to school, or work, or shopping and instead to go out and protest against the racist and inhumane measures in this bill.
In addition to the "day without immigrants," MAPA and other grass roots Latino groups are also organizing a massive protest in 20 major US cities on April 10 in a bid to defeat the legislative reform proposal, Lopez said. The cities targeted include Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta, San Francisco and Dallas, Lopez said.