In cities around America, thousands of construction companies, restaurants and other businesses braced yesterday for “A Day Without Immigrants,” a combination boycott/strike that highlights the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and culture.
The movement is a response to President Trump’s immigration agenda, which includes a pledge to seal the U.S. border with Mexico and a travel ban on citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries (which is now on hold). More days like this could be in our future.
Some businesses are closing for the day; others are staying open and promise to contribute a share of the day’s proceeds to nonprofits that aid Latino communities. In a number of cases business owners are guaranteed by their staffs’ wishes, after holding votes to decide whether to open.
The day of protest comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents alarmed immigrant rights advocates by arresting some 680 people in raids across the U.S. last week. Department of Homeland Security has called those raids routine, saying they targeted people who had criminal convictions.
In Washington D.C., at least two schools are closed for the day.
Restaurants Will Test If The U.S. Can Stomach ‘A Day Without Immigrants’
They’re closing their doors in solidarity with many of their employees.
Restaurant owners across the country are hoping the way to the nation’s conscience is through its stomach as they prepare to close their businesses in solidarity with immigrants on Thursday.
The restaurateurs are doing their part to support the grassroots movement nicknamed “A Day Without Immigrants,” which asks immigrants not to go to work, open their businesses or buy any products for a full day on Feb. 16. The goal is to impress on President Donald Trump the importance of immigration.
It’s no surprise that restaurateurs are taking a stand against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has led to an uptick in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities. An estimated 1.2 million undocumented immigrants work in food preparation and serving jobs in the United States, according to 2012 Pew Research Center data.
Some high-profile names in the restaurant business have signed on to the effort, including Spanish-born chef José Andrés, who was sued by Trump after he pulled out of plans to open a restaurant in the new Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. Andrés announced on Twitter that he will be closing all five of his D.C. area restaurants on Thursday in solidarity.
A lot is happening on the immigration and refugee fronts. What most draws your attention?
With Trump’s three executive orders the new administration has initiated a rapid and unstable shift in U.S. immigration policy toward a more limited access.
The first executive order aims to build a wall along the Mexican border that, estimates suggest will cost $15 to 25 billion at a time when unauthorized immigration from Mexico is essentially coming to a termination. There are several other issues that people have pointed out, but that to me is a singular fact that we have good data on, It seems the wall is not really necessary.
The second order is a plan to aggressively step up the deportation of unauthorized immigrants at a time when immigration courts are tremendously stockpiled.
And then this last order temporarily shuts down the refugee resettlement program in order to fight terrorism. But the data suggest that since the Refugee Act of 1980, which put current screening procedures into place, there hasn’t been a single fatal terrorist attack committed by a refugee in the U.S.
A Nation Of Immigrants
About 40% of Forbes 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their kids. This includes many of the most successful American brands: Apple, Google, Intel. The same goes for science. At the Stanford GSB, 40% of MBAs are citizens of another country. With these policies emphasizing a more exclusionary approach and creating a climate that’s hostile toward immigrants you will push some of this much-needed energy out of the U.S. economy and stymie discovery and innovation going forward.
“When the tyranny becomes law, Rebellion is a right”
-Simon Bolivar- South American revolutionary
“When injustice becomes law, Resistance becomes duty”
-Thomas Jefferson- President of the United States
Sources:
http://tfitzsimons.com/gallery/el-dia-sin-inmigrantes/
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/09/this-is-what-trumps-border-wall-could-cost-us.html
FCPS Databases:
Rymer, Justin. “Denial of Benefits to Immigrants.” American Government, ABC-CLIO, 2017, americangovernment.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1503290. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.
Jr • Mar 6, 2017 at 2:12 pm
A day without immigrants sounds like a day where businesses are closed for an entire day. This Nation was build by immigrants and it rose to be one of the strongest nations ever. I understand that illegal immigrants are not welcomed, but I believe they deserve a second chance to the american dream. Especially those that are illegal due to their overstayed visas. I have no sympathy for the undocumented ones that are causing harm instead of helping the country. They can get deported for all i care.
Gary • Feb 27, 2017 at 2:18 pm
A day without immigrants. This event occurred on Thursday February 16, 2017 when the nation heard the voices of immigrants. This was a protest against President Donald Trump’s’ order to seal the United States border with Mexico and a traveling ban on citizens of seven countries that mainly practice the Muslim religion. This was all sparked by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement by arresting about 680 people in raids throughout the U.S. announcing that this is just a routine targeting immigrants with “criminal convictions” from the Department of Homeland Security. The number of immigrants entering the U.S. and their impact on the workforce in America was about 26.3 million foreign-born working in the U.S. in 2015, making up 16.7% of the workforce
chapin502 • Feb 24, 2017 at 8:44 am
A day without immigrants.This was a protest day to show to Donald Trump that all the immigrants also contribute to U.S. Immigrants are hard worker. They have to stand up and show to the president that they also have a voice in this country. We all came as immigrants to United States. We all are humans, and we all have to be treat equal.
oceanmtnsky • Feb 22, 2017 at 10:51 am
Comment by https://mtviewmirror.com/author/slg0498/
In cities around the country, thousands of constructions companies, restaurants and other businesses are bracing for “A Day Without Immigrants”. the movement is to responses to Presidents Donald Trump immigration agenda includes a pledge to seal the U.S. border with Mexico and a travel ban on citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries.
A day without immigrants is the day that a lot of people most immigrant get the decisions of don’t come to school, don’t go to work, don’t buy nothing in the store and ask the stores majority of Hispanic stores to close to show President Trump that immigrant people matters in this country. By taken this initiative immigrants and no immigrants wants to show to our president that a day without immigrants n this country can be fatal for the economy and to show that we have a voice and we want to be listen.
From Los Angeles, Danielle Karson reports for our Newscast unit:
“Thousands of immigrants are skipping work; not shopping; not eating at restaurants, buying gas, or sending their children to school. LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis says immigrants, regardless of legal status, contribute 40 percent of LA County’s gross domestic product: almost $300 billion a year.
” ‘It’s incumbent on us to be brave, which we’re prepared to do,’ Solis said. ‘To step up; to say to him, not in my house; not in my county; not in my state.'”
In the pass day the massive deportations start and with this start the fare of the immigrant community, families are felt apart, people are losing their jobs because President Trump ask the companies to not contract people without a legal status in this country. A day without immigrants is something that star in social media and get force by pass of days so people take the decision of don’t do what they normally do go to work, study or buying staff from the stores, and ask business to close just for one day to make the other people look how will be a day without any immigrants.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/16/515555428/a-day-without-immigrants-promises-a-national-strike-thursday
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/16/a-day-without-immigrants-orig.cnn/video/playlists/donald-trump-immigration/
Bentley • Feb 21, 2017 at 2:46 pm
I agree with this story because it demonstrated that, we all are immigrants and all are humans. I supported this protested this protest because it is important to show that we immigrants help the economy of this country.
slg0498 • Feb 18, 2017 at 12:08 am
it’s a really good article you explain really good why were the immigrant community doing this. some people didn’t do what they ask they come to school or work and they get insulted. In my opinion we are free to decide to do but if many people didn’t do this or didn’t support it was maybe because I they didn’t come to work they will lose their job of they come to school is because they have their goals and I’m not saying that the people that support these doesn’t have goal I’m just saying that we are free to decide if we want to support the way they do it or not.
Ddtnc • Feb 17, 2017 at 2:27 pm
A Day with no immigrate a lot of people support this protest, but there where some people that they didn’t support and they were saying a lot of mean stuff about this protest but I think that this was a good idea.
Edu_Knight • Feb 17, 2017 at 1:53 pm
great story!! I think it is really necessary to demonstrate how important everyone is for the U.S. If we talk about immigrants we should remember that everyone has ancestors that came from somewhere else, and if we talk about who owns this beautiful country then we should live it to the less then 1% of the native Americans who actually were here since before anyone else (Immigrants) were here if we want to be fair!!!
EJ • Feb 17, 2017 at 1:42 pm
who are immigrants? Is the international movement of people into a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle or reside there, especially as permanent residents or naturalized citizens, or to take-up employment as a migrant worker or temporarily as a foreign. Almost all of the restaurants and construction companies are immigrants. People have been coming to the US for hundreds of years, and now trump is trying to stop everybody? Donald Trump. You are a regular president like other presidents, So you should calm down a little. I don’t really care because I am a citizen, but lets say you were not a citizen, would you accept any president to do what you doing for you. I mean we’ve had 44 presidents and no one have done this before, and now you want to change all of the rules. I don’t think you can do anything with that sir ” Immigrants are welcomed here”.