100,000 Protestors... Angry mobs of students...

[Alex]

The problem with "French-style striking society to its knees" is that this is federal legislation in a very big country where most of the country would not be seriously hampered by such behavior.

Sure, parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, and New York City would be hampered but that would likely only strengthen the resolve of the rest of the country that this is a problem requiring extreme solutions. When you go to Minneapolis there is a surprising sight for this person grown used to California: restaurant bus boys and dish washers are white (or, more likely, black). Gardeners are white (or also likely legal post-Vietnam legal immigrants).

If every illegal immigrant disappeared tomorrow there would be parts of the country hampered but most of the country would go on with little short-term effect. If this were a California bill I could see such protests having a desired effect (but similar experience during the debate over 187 shows otherwise), but I don't see it having anything other than a negative effect at the national level.