May 1 has come and gone, and the much-anticipated pro-illegal-immigration demonstrations were a giant bust.

In 2006, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta had demonstration numbers of 650,000, 400,000 and 50,000 respectively. This year, the numbers were 25,000 in L.A., 150,000 in Chicago, and there weren’t any rallies even planned for Atlanta.

You know what reasons were given for the huge reduction in numbers? Promoters said illegal aliens were afraid that if they protested, they would be picked up and deported.

That might have been a part of it. Why shouldn’t it be? The last I knew, people committing illegal acts were supposed to be arrested and punished in some way. Maybe that is why we don’t have murderers, thieves, rapists, child- and spouse-abusers and others protesting and demonstrating.

I think the real reason is the average American is fed up with the arrogance displayed in last year’s marches, and these demonstrations hurt the protesters’ causes rather than helped.

Who wanted to see a repeat of illegals demanding all the rights of an American citizen, Mexican flags waving, American flags being burned, and comparing our immigration laws to those of Hitler’s against the Jewish population? They even had the nerve to tell us "Anglos" to go back to Europe.

So let’s ignore the sob stories promoted by The New York Times and other mainstream media sources. They love for us to see some poor "hard-working" illegal being ripped away from his job, his family begging for compassion and mercy. The fact is this person knowingly committed a crime by coming here illegally and should have to face the consequences when caught. It doesn’t matter one iota that he or she has been in the country for 20 years. It just means he or she has been able to bleed our economy for a long time.

The fact is America is not responsible for the conditions of people living in other countries. That is the responsibility of their own government. Mexico has plenty of oil revenues to provide a better life for its own citizens.

Now consider part of America’s citizenship oath: "I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty. ..."

The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration asks some pretty good questions, such as: During these demonstrations, do you hear anyone shouting any of the following: "I love this country and want to be a part of her. Becoming an American has been a lifelong dream for me. America is a great country and I would defend and support her. Becoming an American would give me the chance to pay this great country back."

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Maybe I just missed these statements being made.

These people have absolutely no desire to assimilate into our culture. They simply want to take and take and give nothing back.

In 2006, illegal immigrants sent back $23 billion to family members living in Mexico. No wonder the Mexican government acts indignantly when we try to get tough on immigration enforcement. These payments coming into Mexico are a major source of foreign currency, second only to oil exports.

On the other side of the ledger, what are they taking from us? In a study done by the Center for Immigration Studies, it was estimated that if legalization took place, the net cost to the federal government would be from $6,000 to $8,000 per household per year.

Considering there are approximately 12 million illegal aliens in our country, it is easy to see that the cost to the U.S. taxpayer would be substantial.

Finally, don’t buy into the argument that these illegal aliens are only doing the jobs that Americans won’t do. This is just another false assumption.

More than 65 percent of illegals have less than a high school education and another 20 percent have only a high school education.

There are millions of Americans with the same educational background doing exactly the same kind of jobs. The facts show that employers will hire illegal aliens simply because they will work for much less than Americans, and American workers simply can’t compete.

The median weekly wage for American high school dropouts who work full-time is $350, compared with the full-time Mexican worker with a similar educational background who makes $326.

So let’s get serious about border security and illegal-alien deportations. Get the fence up as rapidly as possible. Deny illegal aliens and their families access to our health care, education and welfare programs. Severely punish those employers who hire illegal aliens.

The strategy is simple if you have the resolve to accomplish it. To those who say deportations can’t work because of the numbers involved, I say it can be done ... one illegal at a time.

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Tom Sears is a professor of accounting at Hartwick College in Oneonta. He can be reached at SearsT@hartwick.edu. His column appears every other week.