Businesses around the country went dark Monday and protesters took to the streets as part of a “day without immigrants” strike to showcase the importance of their role in the U.S. economy.
The campaign, largely organized over social media, comes as President Donald Trump deploys Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the country to round up undocumented immigrants, who economists say play avitalrole in the American economy, particularly in the agriculture, service and construction sectors.
The effort, which called for immigrants to skip school and work and withhold spending Monday, was at play in cities large and small across the country, with pronounced demonstrations in immigrant-dense communities in California and Texas. Wendy Guardado, a Los Angeles activist who helped organize the strike, told the Los Angeles Times that she’d counted 250 businesses around the country that had closed in solidarity with the campaign.
“We recognize the invaluable contribution of our immigrant community. Without you, we would not be here,” Joan’s on Third, a popular Los Angeles restaurant that’s been open for 30 years, posted on social media. “A day without immigrants is a day for us all to reflect and honor the strength of our community.”
A construction developer in Dallas told WFAA, a local ABC News affiliate, that more than 100 of his workers didn’t show up Monday in solidarity with the movement. But even before the planned protest, he said, workers were absent in fear of ICE raids.
“They’re not showing up to work, they’re afraid to leave the house… it slows down the project a lot,” Danny Le, a developer with F80 Construction, told the station. “Their work is essential to our community and to our economy.”
The strike mirrors a similar effort that took place about a month into Trump’s first term in 2017.
Demonstrators also took to the streets Monday, including crowds in Los Angeles, Tallahassee and Philadelphia. About 400 people assembled in California’s Sonoma County, home to an $8 billion wine industry reliant on immigrant labor.
The Houston Chronicle said thousands of people gathered in the city’s Hermann Park on Sunday, a day before the planned strike.
“They came here with nothing and they gave us everything,” Cesar Espinosa, co-founder and executive director of Fiel, Texas’ largest immigrant-led civil rights organization, said to protesters, the outlet reported. “If we march next week, or next month or for the next four years, I need you here. We need you here.”
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Thousands also gathered in Los Angeles on Sunday and shut down the 101 Freeway.