A Day Without a Mexican

A Day Without a Mexican (Spanish: Un Día sin mexicanos) is a controversial film, directed by Sergio Arau, in which all the Latinos (see Terminology section below) in the U.S. state of California suddenly disappear. The film takes a satirical look at the range of effects on those Californians who remain.

Facts in the film

On-screen facts and statements

The film has a series of facts and statements which are written in white text on the screen throughtout the film. These facts and statements, in order of appearance, include:

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• Guatemalans and Hondurans are not Mexicans
• There are 40 countries south of the border
• 20% of California K-12 teachers are Hispanic
• 8 of the L.A. Dodgers are Latino
• Senator Shaw is a "closet Latino"
• Every Hispanic on the West Coast is presumed to be Mexican
• Agriculture is California's #1 industry... not Hollywood

:This is true. See: California Section 5: Economy.

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• Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada used to be part of Mexico
• The wall is 12 ft high recycled Gulf War landing plates

In-film facts

• During one of the film's many montages, the following conversation is heard in Spanish, and depicted in English subtitles:

:Ay Piolin, did you know the most popular name in Califas is Joe?

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:No way Telorino, the most popular name for babies being born in California is not Joe, or John, or Jack... its José. Yes sir, José!

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      According to the Social Security Administration, the top 5 male names in California in 2004 (source) were:

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• Daniel (4,095)
• Anthony (3,739)
• Andrew (3,425)
• Jose (3,312)
• Jacob (3,290)
• One of the characters says that, "90% of the crops in the State were picked by Mexican, undocumented workers, crossing the border..." See illegal alien and migrant worker.
• One of the characters says, "They were saying, 'Latinos take $3 billion in social services and don't pay any taxes.' Turns out it's a big lie. There was $100 billion, we figured out, was what the Latinos were contributing to the economy of the State of California..." Presumably the filmmakers meant illegal aliens and not Latinos, since most Latinos do pay taxes.