Boycott Bust

"Monday's pro-immigrant boycott might not have changed any minds, and didn't even ding the U.S. economy, but supporters said they succeeded in a show of unity and strength," said the lede of a story in today's Journal News.

Yup, you guessed it -- nothing after the word "economy" in that sentence matters.

The story notes that those businesses that felt the impact of the boycott the most were... immigrant-owned businesses in largely immigrant communities.

Gee I dunno, where I come from, we call that...a failure.

Turns out, the second part of that sentence is not only irrelevant, it's untrue.

Participation in the protests throughout the U.S. was spotty -- large turnouts in some cities, smaller ones in others -- and even the participants are divided on whether they were successful and what their goals are, says the NY Times.

I still believe in immigration reform -- adoption of a guest-worker program, higher penalities for companies that hire illegal immigrants, path to (but not automatic) citizenship for illegals now in the country, etc.

But whether Monday's protests moved that agenda forward is doubtful at best.