Scores of New York’s immigrants missed school and work Thursday as part of a national #ADayWithoutImmigrants movement.
The demonstrationi, which also encouraged immigrants not to shop today, was designed to show President Donald Trump, his administration and supporters the kind of impact their community has on the United States. In office just under a month, Trump has already signed executive orders regarding the construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and a travel ban on refugees and travelers from seven mostly Muslim countries. RELATED: Yemeni-Americans shut hundreds of shops in NY City to protest travel ban Some of the businesses taking part in New York on Thursday included the Blue Ribbon Restaurant group, which had announced that all seven of its restaurants would be closed in solidarity. “We stand 100% behind our employees — whether they are immigrants or born in America, back of house or front of house. When employees who haven’t missed a day of work in nearly 25 years come to you and ask for a day off to march against injustice, the answer is easy. #ImmigrantsFeedAmerica,” the company wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “As a business created and run by immigrants,” Dulce De Leche Bakery, just across the Hudson River in West New York, New Jersey, said it will also be closed.
Bread Nolita, Dziupla in Williamsburg, Land Thai Kitchen on the Upper West Side andsome locations of Lenwich are a few of the many businesses in the five boroughs that shuttered for the day.
RELATED: Which states see the biggest economic boost from immigration? For the first time in its 10-year history, Staten Island bakery Café Con Pon closed its three locations.
“We are a family business, founded by two hard working immigrants who know first hand just how much the immigrant community contributes to this great nation both economically and manually,” the owners wrote on Facebook. “Through this boycott we hope to demonstrate what a day without all of our immigrant brothers and sisters working and spending to contribute to our economy would look like. The movement, #ADayWithoutImmigrants, comes on the heels of a Feb. 2 event, when dozens of New York bodegas closed for several hours in protest of Trump’s ban.
