News

Actions

Immigrant workers, families to protest by staying home

Posted at 9:45 PM, Feb 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-16 07:26:46-05

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Organizers in cities across the U.S., including in West Michigan, are urging immigrants to skip class, stay home from work, and not patronize businesses Thursday.

Called A Day Without Immigrants, with the hash tag #ADayWithoutImmigrants, the protest is meant to show how critical immigrants are to the U.S. economy and the country’s way of life. Actions are planned in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, and Austin, Texas.

Some Hispanic businesses in the Grand Rapids area also plan on participating.

An assistant manager with Lindo Mexico told FOX 17 that more than a dozen businesses will be closing their doors for the day:

The protest comes in response to actions by President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump 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 has blamed high unemployment on immigration.