Businesses close, classroom seats empty on ‘A Day Without Immigrants’

A nationwide protest called “A Day Without Immigrants” was felt in Modesto on Thursday by a number of Latino-owned businesses closing and families keeping their children home from school.

Immigrants around the country stayed home from work and school Thursday to demonstrate how important they are to America’s economy and its way of life, and many businesses closed in solidarity, according to The Associated Press reports.

The boycott was aimed squarely at President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration, legal and illegal. Organizers appealed to immigrants from all walks of life to take part, but the effects were felt most strongly in the restaurant industry, which has long been a first step up the economic ladder for newcomers to America with its many jobs for cooks, dishwashers and servers.

“I live off South Ninth Street, and there are businesses that are primarily Latino-, Mexican-, Hispanic-owned – whatever you choose to call it – and they are closed today,” said Rebecca Harrington, board president of the Latino Community Roundtable in Modesto. “I think it’s sending a very powerful message that the Latino impact on the economy in our community is very great, and for a long time, I don’t think it’s been given its true value.

“The impact on businesses, school districts, services – we are in great part valuable contributors to the economy. People say if you’re not here legally, you’re not paying taxes. But every time someone makes a purchase, there’s a sales tax. A dollar earned is a dollar spent, and it affects our tax dollars by not having us out there spending that money. It is time for that to be recognized and acknowledged and respected.”

Visits to businesses along a few blocks of Crows Landing Road in south Modesto on Thursday afternoon found “closed” signs on the doors of several, in some cases stating the reason was “A Day Without Immigrants.”

But owners of at least a half-dozen businesses that remained open found some not aware of the day of protest, others opposed and still others indifferent to the politics but needing the daily income.

Through an employee who translated, Taqueria La Michoacana food truck owner Jaime Chavez said simply that he works every day because people need to eat every day. The employee said that they’d felt no pressure to close and that business was normal Thursday.

Other business owners and managers would speak only on conditions their names not be used, for fear of repercussions. One showed the Facebook page of a closed group whose members were taking pictures of Latino-owned businesses in Modesto that remained open Thursday. Photos were posted with the message, in Spanish, “The stores that did not support us today, we should not buy from.”

Another business owner said, “Who is this most affecting? We, the Latin businesses.” He said he didn’t think closing for a day was going to send any message to Washington because it wasn’t a well-organized protest that kept Latinos from spending their money at places like Walmart, Target and McDonald’s.

When businesses along Crows Landing Road – where the vast majority of owners, employees and customers are Latino – close even for a day, it hurts only that community, the owner said. The owner had to send an employee home early Thursday because business was so slow.

One business manager said he and the owner discussed closing but decided against it.

“Bills still have to be paid,” the manager said. Employees were asked if they wanted the business closed Thursday, he said, but they have bills, too, and couldn’t afford a day without pay.

Members of a Punjabi family that runs a business on Crows Landing simply had not heard about “A Day Without Immigrants,” which locally was organized primarily through social media rather than face-to-face. They had wondered why so many places around them were closed Thursday, they said. And they agreed with other business owners who said the protest was not an effective way to make a statement to the powers that be.

But those businesses that closed believe that a day’s income is worth the price of sending a strong message, Harrington said.

“They’re saying, ‘I am willing to sacrifice this day’s earnings to let you know I am to be valued. Our children who go to your schools, who receive ADA (average daily attendance) funding, are to be valued.’ ”

Among elementary campuses in the Modesto City Schools District, eight had daily attendance Thursday that was below 80 percent. The lowest was Bret Harte, southwest of Hatch and Crows Landing roads, at 60 percent, where 392 students were absent.

The other lowest-attendance elementary schools were Shackelford, 60.3 percent, 210 students absent; Fairview, 67.7 percent, 260 absent; Kirschen, 72.8 percent, 184 absent; Marshall, 73.6 percent, 212 absent; Franklin, 76.7 percent, 204 absent; and Robertson Road, 78.5 percent, 88 absent.

The absences are not excusable, district spokeswoman Becky Fortuna said.

“We understand and appreciate a person’s right to protest,” she said. “However, the best place for students to be is in school.”

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Businesses close, classroom seats empty on ‘A Day Without Immigrants’."