In Southern California and throughout the nation on Monday, dozens of companies nationwide closed, colleges reported decrease attendance and households delay journeys to the grocery retailer in observance of “A day with out immigrants.”
The decision to motion, which started circulating on social media final week, inspired immigrants to skip work, maintain their youngsters house from college and chorus from procuring Monday.
Companies throughout the U.S. introduced closures on social media. A quinceañera boutique in Omaha. A espresso store in Salt Lake Metropolis. A used automotive lot in Baltimore. An accounting agency in Pasco, Wash.
Monday’s protest echoed the same nationwide motion in February 2017, a month after President Trump began his first time period. Then, as on Monday, college students stayed away from college and employees didn’t report back to work, together with workers at a Senate espresso store in Washington, D.C.
Wendy Guardado, a Los Angeles activist who helped manage the motion, stated she had counted almost 250 companies nationwide that had closed in solidarity with the motion. Different institutions discovered themselves wanting employees. On the Abbey Meals & Bar, a well-liked LGBTQ+ nightclub in West Hollywood, the kitchen was closed as a result of a staffing scarcity.
She stated that Monday’s motion was just the start, and that she heard many individuals couldn’t afford to take a break day work with only a week’s discover.
“There may be a lot extra coming,” Guardado stated, “as a result of there’s 4 years of Trump.”
All through Los Angeles Unified, attendance was 66% Monday in contrast with 93% for the yr as a complete — and 91% final week, in response to district information. Guardado stated three district lecturers advised her that their school rooms have been empty Monday. Others advised her that their school rooms have been almost empty.
Jonah Ocampo, 5, joins demonstrators protesting President Trump’s immigration insurance policies on Feb. 3, 2025, in Santa Ana.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
A spokesperson for the Inglewood Unified Faculty District stated that it skilled “a higher-than-usual scholar absence” throughout colleges. San Diego Unified Faculty District Supt. Fabi Bagula famous that some college students and households have been taking part within the protest, however didn’t specify now many.
A trainer at Parmelee Avenue Elementary Faculty in South L.A., who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk out, stated that 390 of the varsity’s 670 college students have been absent Monday and that many mother and father had stated it was due to the protest.
At El Sol Academy in Santa Ana, as many as 50 college students will miss a day of faculty for private causes, stated Sara Flores, the varsity’s chief scholar and household help officer. On Monday, 180 didn’t present up.
In Sacramento, Mario Ledesma, 31, determined to shut his retailer, Pa’l Norte Work & Western Put on.
Ledesma stated his dad, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico a long time in the past, used to promote western boots at a neighborhood flea market. Ledesma later offered boots too, switching to on-line gross sales in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was so profitable that he opened a brick-and-mortar 4 months in the past.
For Ledesma, closing his fledgling store for a day was extra necessary than any revenue he stood to make. The identify of his retailer means To The North.
“I named my enterprise in honor of the sacrifices our folks made to return to this nation seeking the American dream,” he wrote on Instagram. “We live in a second the place our American dream is being attacked…Let’s present them that with out us El Norte no existe” — america wouldn’t exist.
Demonstrators block components of Santa Ana Boulevard to protest President Trump’s immigration insurance policies on Feb. 3, 2025, in Santa Ana.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Among the many eating places closed to point out solidarity with the protesters was Golfo de Fonseca, a Salvadoran eatery in Pacoima. Yonatan Franco, 30, a undocumented immigrant who arrived from El Salvador in 2015, had hoped to order pupusas for lunch. He and his father drove up in his black Nissan Xterra at midday to seek out the restaurant darkish.
Franco stated that, given the wave of deportations ordered by Trump, he has chosen to not purchase at giant companies, similar to McDonald’s, Goal and Walmart.
“These massive shops are supporting Trump,” he stated “There are a variety of Latinos at swap meets promoting garments, and we will help our people who find themselves combating their companies.”
In Santa Ana, Reyna, a restaurant line prepare dinner who didn’t wish to present her final identify as a result of she’s within the nation with out authorized standing, determined to maintain her youngsters house from college and deliberate to place off grocery looking for the day.
Reyna already had the break day from work. However when a pal texted her concerning the boycott over the weekend, she determined to hitch.
“We’re a part of this financial system,” she stated. “Many people immigrants who’re right here should not hurting anybody. We simply needed one thing higher.”
Though the extent of the enterprise closures and absences wasn’t instantly clear, consultants stated the importance shouldn’t be measured in {dollars} and cents.
“The effectiveness of those sorts of mobilizations is extra on the message,” stated Victor Narro, undertaking director on the UCLA Labor Middle. He stated Monday’s protest highlights the truth that with the inhabitants rising older and delivery charges falling, the nation must rely extra on the immigrant workforce for the financial system to stay robust.
A number of California eating places posted on social media that they have been closing in help of the motion: In Oakland, La Casa de Maria. In La Mirada, Barbacoa Los Gueros. All 10 places of the favored Teddy’s Pink Tacos, from Anaheim to Venice.
Antojitos Puebla, in downtown Los Angeles, additionally introduced it will shut for the day. On Fb, the restaurant wrote that “Immigrants are the spine of our nation.”
1000’s march in downtown Los Angeles to protest President Trump’s immigration insurance policies.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
Additionally downtown, protesters resumed demonstrations Monday that introduced out hundreds and shut down the 101 Freeway a day earlier over Trump’s current govt actions on immigration. The motion was considerably smaller, and there was no signal of one other freeway takeover.
Exterior Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor, the whir of helicopters overhead was drowned out by a cacophony of bullhorns and fiery chanting. Katherine Sanchez, 18, couldn’t assist however smile.
“It’s very heartwarming,” Sanchez stated, standing together with her sister and fogeys Monday afternoon. She held an indication that learn, “Ur racism received’t finish our energy.”
The Burbank Excessive Faculty senior, who heard concerning the demonstration on TikTok, stated she and plenty of of her buddies skipped college to hitch the protest.
Sanchez’s father, Esteban Sanchez, the kid of Mexican immigrants, is disheartened by the messaging behind Trump’s current actions on immigration.
“I used to be born right here, and I really feel like a foreigner,” he stated.
“It’s not the nation that I assumed we have been,” he added, earlier than stepping off the curb and becoming a member of the protesters as they rushed Spring Avenue.
1000’s rally in the course of the march in downtown Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
In downtown Santa Ana, tons of of protesters equally gathered at Sasscer Park and throughout the road on the Ronald Reagan federal courthouse. Vehicles drove up and down the neighborhood’s slim streets whereas honking their horns to the cheers of pedestrians. Some automobiles, caught in visitors in between the park and the courthouse, started to spin their tires in place, filling the air with smoke.
Fernanda Hernandez, 19, led a few of her buddies down 4th Avenue, Orange County’s historic Latino hall. She held an indication that stated, “My Dad and mom Work More durable than Your President.” Each of her mother and father are undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
“Trump needs us to be afraid however we will’t be,” stated Hernandez, who referred to as in sick from her retail job. “We have to rise up for our gente. He needs us gone, whether or not we’re unlawful or not.”
Instances employees writers Soudi Jimenez, Howard Blume, Daniel Miller and Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.
