NEW YORK .— While it is still difficult to discover the economic impact of the boycott carried out by immigrants in the United States on May 1, California and other states have suffered multi-million dollar losses, the DPA news agency reported.

Millions of people responded to the call to carry out a May Day strike and boycott to demand the legalization of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

One million people marched in Los Angeles; half a million in Chicago and half a million in New York, according to organizers’ estimates. Smaller demonstrations in other cities like Orlando, Atlanta, Denver and Washington included hundreds of thousands more.

According to the U.S. media, many businesses closed their doors on May 1, while immigrant laborers did not show up at their construction and agricultural jobs.

According to Jack Kyser, an economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., the economic impact of the one-day boycott could total up to $200 million just in Los Angeles County. That amount is estimated to be one-sixth of the $1.2 billion generated daily by the county’s economic activity.

For their part, day laborers’ defense organizations affirmed that the boycott significantly affected the agricultural sector, one of the most important economic branches in the state of California.

Observance of the strike paralyzed construction sites all over the country, and industrial food production plants also shut their doors.

In Latino barrios throughout Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Miami, thousands of restaurants, warehouses, newsstands, and money transfer services stayed closed.

The demonstrators were protesting a U.S. House of Representatives bill that seeks to criminalize undocumented immigrants and accelerate their deportation; build the longest wall in the world along the border with Mexico, and use military technology against illegal immigration.