In case you missed it, the world was supposed to end last week. At least that’s what mass immigration supporters and anti-ICE organizers wanted you to believe. The much-ballyhooed “National Shutdown,” sponsored by “1,000 plus” organizations, promised “historic, economy-crushing consequences in all 50 States” with “millions standing up” to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts. Radicals warned Americans to stay home from work, skip school, and avoid shopping … and, of course, to obediently march outside despite the arctic temperatures enveloping most of the country.
Things were looking dire as media bluster exploded: “California braces for national shutdown as anger and fear over ICE intensify,” “L.A. museums and cultural hubs go dark in solidarity with anti-ICE National Shutdown protests,” “Protesters to take over NYC in national shutdown against ICE.” Frenzied social media posts warned of a powder keg: “Every city is rising up and this is just the beginning.”
Except that trains and planes ran on time, utilities functioned in all American cities, people shopped, pharmacies stayed open, workers showed up to do their jobs, and you could still get a late-night meal in mid-town Manhattan, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
On Friday, at the height of the protest, the Dow rose 56 points. The following Monday, it surged 500 points.
Admittedly, some businesses did close during the multicity events, but it remains in question as to whether those decisions were to show solidarity or, more likely, were desperate responses to fear and intimidation. After all, no small business wants a Molotov cocktail hurled through their window by violent antifa protesters angry that they’re defying the edict to close.
Predictably, the “National Shutdown” was just another variation in a long line of failed immigration protests promising to cripple the U.S. economy. Similarly, “A Day without an Immigrant” is an annual national demonstration opposing immigration enforcement. Each year, organizers warn of economic collapse as they encourage immigrants to stay home from work so that employers will be forced to close, thus proving how vital their labor is.
Despite the hype, it too is always a bust, and it’s not because there aren’t a lot of immigrants in the workforce — there are. But most of them are legal and, for the most part, they show up for work grateful for the opportunity to earn a paycheck as part of the American labor force. Protest organizers overlook the fact that many legal immigrants are offended when others conflate them with illegal immigrants, automatically assuming an accord with those who broke the law. Comingling the two groups is a sleight-of-hand anti-border activists use to hide their agenda, but it doesn’t sit well with law-abiding immigrants, who, like anyone else, don’t want to be lumped into a single category and used as political props. As such, during past “A Day without an Immigrant” protests, most legal immigrants clocked in and went to work. Life in America continued as usual.
In truth, all protests by the Left advocate on behalf of illegal aliens, not immigrants. Thus, organizers might consider rebranding their annual event more honestly as “A Day without Illegal Aliens” — except even that presents two major problems. Given recent polls, most Americans would simply react with, “Well, good, it’s about time!” Then, too, many of the businesses that do voluntarily close for a day to show their support for the protest are restaurants.
In effect, “A Day without Illegal Aliens” would only highlight for potential patrons which establishments are likely hiring “undocumented” kitchen staff — that is, food handlers whose immunization, vaccine, and communicable disease status may be highly questionable given they entered the United States unlawfully and uninspected. For restaurateurs who want to profitably serve food and not politics, that’s a menu detail not to be promoted.
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But while the recent “National Shutdown” and the annual “Day without an Immigrant” are the usual busts, one recent immigration protest was effective: It was called an election — the one in 2024 in which 77 million Americans made Donald Trump the 47th president of the United States, largely based on his promise to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.
The borders are now mostly closed, and that’s one shutdown that isn’t a bust.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel of the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.