Businesses all over San Francisco are showing support for their immigrant workforce by closing their doors in participation of “A Day Without Immigrants.”
The protest follows President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants, build a wall along Mexico’s borders and ban immigrants and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“Bay Area immigrants contribute $210B/year to our local economy,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee tweeted earlier this morning. “Our diversity is our strength.”
While many restaurants have opted to close their doors, some remain open while voicing their support for the protest. Tacolicious, a Mexican restaurant chain, is among the restaurants that chose to remain open.
Based on closure announcements found by Xpress staff, here is a map of closed businesses in San Francisco:
In a letter posted by Tacolicious in the window of every restaurant, founder Joe Hargrave and managing partner Mike Barrow stated, “Today represents a chance for our employees to make a statement about California’s powerful and irreplaceable immigrant workforce.”
Tacolicious claims that 100 percent of today’s profits will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Discount City, owned by Afghan-American Shafi Mohmmad, also stayed open and continues to sell pinatas in the president’s likeness in support of “A Day Without Immigrants.”
“They can’t do anything to me. I’m an American citizen,” said Mohmmad. “But he [President Trump] has no right to remove these people,” said Mohmmad in reference to undocumented immigrants. “He is not my president.”