Posted on 02/15/2017 8:29:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Donald Trump’s rise to the White House has been accompanied by increasingly harsh rhetoric about immigration.
In response, local immigrant rights activists have decided to give Philly a taste of what the world would be like if proponents of mass deportations had their way. They've planned a “Day without Immigrants” (Un Dia Sin Immigrante) protest on Thursday.
“What if a good chunk of Philadelphia society was gone in one day? This is what we’re talking about,” said Miguel Andrade, an organizer with Juntos, an immigrants' activist group that is coordinating the protest.
Immigrants will be “closing shops, not sending their children to school and not engaging in consumerism,” Juntos said in a statement.
But a dip in economic activity isn’t the purpose of the protest, they said.
“The point of this is not only to show what the effects on day-to-day life are going to be like, business and restaurants not being open, but really showing what mass deportations would look like,” Andrade said. “This is your classmate, your neighbor, your coworker — and they could easily be gone in the blink of an eye.”
The planned protest is one of several happening across the country Thursday. Similar walkouts are planned in such places as Washington, Austin, Texas, and the Jersey Shore.
In Philadelphia, some top restaurateurs have voiced support for the walk-out.
Stephen Starr, owner of Starr Restaurants, told Billy Penn he wouldn’t punish any workers who participated in the walkout. “It’s sad that it has come to this,” he said. “They should not have to live in fear.”
The Philadelphia Republican Party responded on Twitter to news of the planned walkout by stating, “We support legal immigration. We oppose illegal immigration.”
That’s a distinction Andrade rejected.
“No human being is illegal,” he said. “People think you just get in line, fill out a form, and come in the right way. But it’s a long and arduous process that costs thousands of dollars and takes years.”
Andrade isn’t exactly sure how many people will participate in the protest, but said another walkout is already planned for May 1.
Mass raids: fear or fiction?
The protest comes just days after immigration officers arrested more than 680 people around the country.
“This past weekend we saw large-scale raids happening across the country and are bracing for them to hit Philadelphia,” Juntos said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said the arrests were part of regular operations.
But immigration activists from Juntos said they expect to see “more aggressive tactics from a federal agency that is now emboldened by the racist and xenophobic speech of Donald Trump.”
While such raids have not yet been reported in Philadelphia, organizers said they have been receiving panicked texts and calls from immigrants around the city who fear such raids could take place.
Employers, please use this opportunity and hire Americans for the vacant jobs! Millions and millions of us want to work...
THANK YOU!
closed shops provides ICE a list of places to check next.
Thank you.
how do you ‘walk off’ from welfare? start looking for jobs?
Sounds like a great start! Perhaps ICE should be taking notes. Will make it easier to round them all up the following week.
Notice L.A. Is not involved this time. A few years ago, the Day Without Mexicans was the best day of the year on freeways. You could really get everywhere in 20 minutes. THEY WERE NOT MISSED. We loved it so much they will never do it again.
Wow! “hundreds” walking out in a city of 1.5 million. Sounds like a class A fake news story in the making.
good point but... at the same time, there are SO MANY jobs held by foreigners instead of Americans, right here in USA
the employers need to HIRE AMERICANS who want to work,
not keep importing or hiring foreigners. At least not when so many millions of Americans can’t find work
this is a severe jobs depression for the last 5 or 6 years,
and so many big corporations keep importing foreigners for American jobs...... and yes, many small businesses also are hiring foreigners too
it is very unfair to American citizens that want to work!
A day without diarrhea.
It’s going to be a great day in the Twin Cities tomorrow!
Just a day? Can you make it permanent? That would really show us.
I remember that day. It was awesome. Never have the freeways moved so swiftly and been so safe at the same time. That was a day I’ll never forget.
Enjoy it!
I watched some of San Andreas last night and was feeling guilty for WISHING it would happen for real. Lol.
Keep walking...over the border and home to your own countries.
Maybe, just maybe, Trump and La Migra might help us out a little. That was a great day.
They better be careful. People might like this. They might want another 364 days without illegal immigrants
What would it be like? Oh I see we’re supposed to evaluate this is in a few hours. How about within a few months, many of Philadelphia’s poverty stricken African Americans could get jobs? Sounds good to me.
Better than that. They should take a month off.
In fact, they should take a year off.
Actually, they'd REALLY show Philadelphians a thing or two if they just went home. Permanently.
“day without immigrants”
I’m sure they don’t mean “immigrants” here. “Trespassers” would be closer to the mark. “Day without trespassers”.
Many restaurants operate on very thin margins. We’ll see if the owners are singing the same sympathetic tune a week from now.
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