Three-Peat, but Not a Record

The LA Boycott Rally wasn't quite the bonanza that organizers hoped for (from Pajamas Media):

Pro-illegal immigrant protests that organizers and Spanish-language radio stations hoped would attract a crippling percentage of Southern California’s several million Latinos have been large and loud but not record-breaking — and were closer in size to throngs that celebrated the Lakers three-peat in 2002. By 4:30 pm, KABC TalkRadio’s reporters in the field were noting that crowds had dwindled to 60,000.

The day of protests saw 27% of Los Angeles students not appearing for class, according to Mayor Sam. The defiance by students, who ignored public entreaties by Superintendent Roy Romer not to hurt their own schools by skipping out, is expected to cost millions of dollars. Meanwhile, newspapers reported major hits to the overwhelmingly Latino garment and produce industries in downtown LA, but less dramatic and somewhat sporadic effects elsewhere.

There weren't as many Mexican or Communist flags at the Lakers celebration either.

Congressman Tom Tancredo offers a view of what a real day without illegal immigrants might look like (h/t Hugh Hewitt):

Hospital emergency rooms across the southwest would have about 20-percent fewer patients, and there would be 183,000 fewer people in Colorado without health insurance.

OBGYN wards in Denver would have 24-percent fewer deliveries and Los Angeles’s maternity-ward deliveries would drop by 40 percent and maternity billings to Medi-Cal would drop by 66 percent.

Youth gangs would see their membership drop by 50 percent in many states, and in Phoenix, child-molestation cases would drop by 34 percent and auto theft by 40 percent.

In Durango, Colorado, and the Four Corners area and the surrounding Indian reservations, the methamphetamine epidemic would slow for one day, as the 90 percent of that drug now being brought in from Mexico was held in Albuquerque and Farmington a few hours longer. According to the sheriff of La Plata County, Colorado, meth is now being brought in by ordinary illegal aliens as well as professional drug dealers.

No to mention the lighter traffic.