On Thursday, in response to Trump's searing immigration policies, Immigrant Workers across the country will be skipping work to show Washington what the country looks like without its #migrant labor force.
#A Day Without Immigrants will see thousands of employees and employers sacrificing their wages and earnings to protest, while customers will find the coffees they drink and the food they order may be unavailable.
The protest is in response to President Trump's harsh immigration program, which aims to seal the US border with Mexico as well as ban citizens of seven Muslim countries from entering the United States (since been put on hold).
There has also been a recent surge of #Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICA) sweeps and deportations across the country, which has seen some families torn apart.
Washington DC is the epicenter
In Washington DC, where the campaign has been focused and received the biggest footing, around 50 cafes and restaurants shuttered their doors for the day. Many other DC establishments will be making do with a restricted menu or selling only drinks or coffees to demonstrate support for striking staff.
A traditionally liberal city, DC now hosts a President who has called #immigrants rapists, terrorists and drug-smugglers. Few are surprised that it has become the smoking-hot center of the movement.
There are further reports that restaurants in New Jersey, San Francisco, Austin, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Philadelphia, Des Moines, North Carolina and Boston and Chicago are also closed. Some schools also showed low attendance in classrooms.
Joe Eskenazi on Twitter wrote: 'Builder tells me #Day Without an Immigrant has shut down 95 percent of construction sites in San Francisco, North Bay.'
So what does a day without immigration labor look like?
Food site #Eater reports that a significant number of restaurants closed in Los Angeles, a city built on an immigration workforce. Hatchet Hall, Nickel Diner, Bardonna, Phorage, Human Food, Mission Cantina, Farida, Bowery, Bowery Bungalow and Delancey, amongst many more, will be shut in protest.
Many other places and chefs have spoken privately to Eater to show support for the cause, revealing that they will be allowing any workers within their organization to take the day off to #protest, if so desired.
Eater said that possibly many popular restaurants in LA could be functioning on low staff numbers and cautioned customers to be patient.
New York will see many restaurants closing too. And the protests aren’t restricted to restaurants: Some #childcare centers have closed, leaving parents to miss work or find other arrangements. Various other stores and markets are either bolted or functioning at a reduced capability.
A march in Washington DC
As part of the protest, #Many Languages One Voice, a non-profit, arranged a rally that closed some DC streets in an area where there are large Hispanic populations. “They will not build walls in our communities,” appeared a sign, amidst other impassioned slogans.
According to a 2008 Pew study, nearly 30 percent of the nation's kitchen hands and 20 percent of its cooks are #undocumented immigrants. In a further move of solidarity, some businesses are promising to give a share of the day's profits to nonprofit organizations that help Latino communities.
