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Months of planning in the large immigrant destination cities of the United States led up to the spectacular demonstration of political protest and solidarity we witnessed on May Day, 2006. The Latino "sleeping giant" of political folklore awakened in states across the country on that day to flex its political muscle. It was a decisive response to the national wave of xenophobia that culminated in the Republican-led house legislation (HR4437), which would have criminalized and deported en masse the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States (6 million of whom are estimated to be from Mexico). The nationwide political demonstration, characterized as a "Day without Immigrants," was strategically planned to impact the economies that are dependent on the vast pool of immigrant Latino labor. This political event culminated in activism such as student and community protests, student walkouts and abstaining from work and shopping. At the end of the day, political pundits counted the protesters in the millions, whereas economists tallied up the numbers in lost profit.
It is difficult to calculate the overall impact of a "day without immigrants." However, 6 months and a week later, Republicans lost control of the House and Senate. The daily newscast has taken its spotlight off the border. Reporters have returned the Arizona desert to the minutemen, vigilantes, scorpions and snakes to keep vigil at the border. Today when we talk about immigration legislation, it is in terms of a comprehensive legislation including guest worker programs and paths to citizenship, a decidedly gentler version of the legislation that brought so many out on the streets. On the other hand, the Immigration Control Enforcement (ICE) is still present in the smaller towns of the Rocky Mountain West, Midwest and traditional South and, more recently, in the large immigrant-receiving cities, raiding worksites and rounding up immigrant laborers in traditional "Operation Wetback" style. The ICE agency, fortified and fed on immigrant-hate legislation, roams the national countryside just outside the reach of the drowsy giant.
In Wyoming, concerns over the number of wolves outweigh concerns over the number of immigrants. Within the state, the recent ICE raids on the Swift packing plant in our neighboring town of Greeley, Colorado, just outside the Wyoming - Colorado border, generated...