Immigrant workers, families to protest by staying home
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Family members who have just arrived from Syria embrace and are greeted by family who live in the United States upon their arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Organizers in cities across the U.S. are telling immigrants to miss class, miss work and not shop on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, as a way to show the country how important they are to America’s economy and way of life.
PHILADELPHIA >> Organizers in cities across the U.S. are telling immigrants to miss class, miss work and not shop on Thursday as a way to show the country how important they are to America’s economy and way of life.
“A Day Without Immigrants” actions are planned in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Austin, Texas.
The protest comes in response to President Donald Trump and his 1-month-old administration. The Republican president has pledged to increase deportation of immigrants living in the country illegally, build a wall along the Mexican border, and ban people from certain majority-Muslim countries from coming into the U.S. He also has blamed high unemployment on immigration.
Employers and institutions in some cities were already expressing solidarity Wednesday with immigrant workers. Washington restaurateur John Andrade said he would close his businesses Thursday, and David Suro, owner of Tequilas Restaurant in Philadelphia and a Mexican immigrant, said he also planned to participate.
The Davis Museum at Wellesley College in Massachusetts said it would remove or shroud all artwork created or given by immigrants to the museum through Feb. 21.
In New Mexico, the state with the largest percentage of Hispanic residents in the nation, school officials worried that hundreds of students may stay home on Wednesday.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
“We respectfully ask all parents to acknowledge that students need to be in class every day to benefit from the education they are guaranteed and to avoid falling behind in school and life,” principals with the Albuquerque Public Schools wrote in a letter to parents.
Students who take part in the protest will receive an unexcused absence, Albuquerque school officials said.
Organizers in Philadelphia said they expect hundreds of workers and families to participate.
“Our goal is to highlight the need for Philadelphia to expand policies that stop criminalizing communities of color,” said Erika Almiron, executive director of Juntos, a nonprofit group that works with the Latino immigrant community. “What would happen if massive raids did happen? What would the city look like?”
Almiron said that while community groups have not seen an uptick in immigration raids in the city, residents are concerned about the possibility.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is among leaders in several cities nationwide who have vowed to maintain their “sanctuary city” status and decline to help federal law enforcement with deportation efforts.
Many people who make the choice to skip work Thursday will not be paid in their absence, but social media posts encouraging participation stressed that the cause is worth the sacrifice.
10 responses to “Immigrant workers, families to protest by staying home”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Don’t be a fool and miss work; it could cost you your job.
Right,actally lots of tech companies may shut down. Then people like trumpf can’t twit.
This is like shoplifters protesting enforcement by store security. How can you protest for the right to break the law?
They should just go home and apply for legal entry.
Stay home Thursday and be unemployed the next day……
Good, stay right there at home. Easier for the ICE agents to come find you. Stay home for several days, also, so you can be fired and an American can be hired to replace you.
Lol an American picking crops and sweating? Yeah right
why am I not surprise.
AP, as usual fails to say anything about the “organizers” of these boycotts.
Why don’t these people just come out and stop being disingenuous. What they are really saying is that they don’t want any rules, any regulations preventing anyone entering the country. Come and go as you please.
Legal immigrants, illegal immigrants. Big difference.
This is how “twisted” the Democrats/organizers minds have become.To avoid deportation,they are simply telling this people it’s OK to Break the Law. So stay home,don’t go shopping,miss class. You know we can all read this right(The Plan)and we do have cameras too! So Funny!
Do these “Nincompoops Democrats” think Homeland Security/TSA, NSA, FBI, CIA are complete fools! This information is already out there!Hellllooooooooooo!. We can get them anytime we like ! What the Heck they even have their flight intinerary.
So yes Mayors of Philadelphia, Boston, Austin Texas,tell them to avoid deportation and obstruct the law that we all abide by,but just remember it’s going to cost you more than “Your Dime”! BTW? That Dime could run into the millions!So go ahead.You got it covered!Let those immigrants know,the ones you are condoning to breaking the law?”How Important they are to America’s Economy and way of Life”. But Pleases, please,please…..Don’t cry about it later.