Prince William County officials said Monday that a recent boycott and rally protesting the county’s resolution to cut services to illegal immigrants failed to have a significant impact on area business, and the officials vowed not to change course on the issue.

A few thousand Hispanic immigrants and their supporter held a rally at Prince William County headquarters organized by Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, which capped a weeklong economic boycott against non-immigrant-owned businesses.

In response to the events, Prince William County Supervisor John Stirrup, County Chairman Corey Stewart and Help Save Manassas President Greg Letiecq were among those gathered at the same spot at a news conference Monday.

“The boycott failed to make any appreciable impact,” Letiecq said Monday. “No one is reporting it had any negative effects.”

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Stewart is scheduled to testify at a hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration Thursday.

“The thrust of my testimony is that Congress has failed to do its job to protect our borders,” Stewart told The Examiner Monday. “If the federal government is not going to do its job, it needs to give us the power to do it.”

Officials criticized Sunday’s protest by contending many of the participants in the rally were from as far as Wisconsin and other states, rather than representing the local immigrant community.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an illegal immigration resolution July 10 that would deny some county services to immigrants and hasten the deportation of illegal immigrants who break the law. Proponents said the move was aimed at addressing problems such as overcrowded homes and the cost of providing county services to illegal immigrants. But opponents saw the measure as an unfair scapegoating of immigrants and organized responses such as the boycott.

Mexicanos Sin Fronteras legal coordinator Nancy Lyall said the boycott accomplished what the group set out to do.

“The county has never experienced anything quite like this; it brought to the forefront a discussion in regard to the resolution, and that was the purpose,” Lyall said.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com