Area businesses close to demonstrate immigrants’ importance to economy
Businesses along SW 29 in Oklahoma City and elsewhere across the metro closed Thursday as part of a national demonstration to show that immigrants matter when it comes to making the nation’s economy go.
The closures and demonstrations held Thursday across the country were part of a national protest called A Day Without Immigrants, and they were aimed squarely at President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration, legal and illegal, by such means as a wall at the Mexican border and recent deportation sweeps.
Organizers said they expected thousands to participate or otherwise show support.
The heart of Philadelphia’s Italian Market was uncommonly quiet. Fine restaurants in New York, San Francisco and the nation’s capital closed for the day. Grocery stores, food trucks, coffee shops and taco joints in places like Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston also shut down.
The protest even reached into the U.S. Capitol, where a Senate coffee shop was among the eateries that were closed as employees did not show up at work.
In Oklahoma City
In the Oklahoma City area, Taqueria Sanchez, 4011 NW 10; Tacos Sibilia, 3207 NW 23; Hugo’s Taquizas, 3409 NW 23; and most metropolitan locations of The Garage appeared to be closed for the day.
Another business closed Thursday was La Oaxaqueña Bakery & Restaurant, 741 SW 29, as were both Naylamp Peruvian restaurants in the city.
The Feria Latina supermarket, at 4909 NW 23, Oklahoma City area Supermercados Morelos supermarkets and two Buy 4 Less grocery stores in south
Oklahoma City also closed for the day.
While The Oklahoman’s list was by no means complete late Thursday, it does show the national demonstration had some local support.
Brenda Hernandez, vice president of operations & community relations at Tango Public Relations in Oklahoma City, said Thursday some 30 businesses ranging from restaurants to grocery stores and even an automobile dealer along S 29 in the city closed on Thursday.
Hernandez also said she hoped the day’s closures and demonstrations will bring attention to the fears among many in the country’s immigrant population.
“Everything that’s going on is upsetting. It is affecting so many lives,” she said. “I hope the rest of the community understands and has a little bit of empathy for what we are feeling.
“This is really impacting a lot of families.”
Since the end of 2007, the number of foreignborn workers employed in the U.S. has climbed by nearly 3.1 million to 25.9 million; they account for 56 percent of the increase in U.S. employment over that period, according to the Labor Department.
The foreign-born — who include American citizens, green-card holders and those working without legal authorization — tend to be younger and to take jobs in fields that have been growing fastest, including restaurants, hotels and stores.
Roughly 12 million people are employed in the restaurant industry, and immigrants make up the majority — up to 70 percent in places like New York and Chicago, according to the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which works to improve working conditions. An estimated 1.3 million in the industry are immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, the group said.
The construction industry, which also employs large numbers of immigrants, also was affected.
The day’s activities also included rallies in several cities, including at least one in downtown Oklahoma City.
‘A first step’
One co-organizer of a rally Thursday evening at the corner of Robinson and Sheridan avenues, a young man who identified himself as Alfredo, said he took a day off from work Thursday to show the concern he has about the nation’s current political climate when it comes to immigrants.
“We came here to live a life that we saw as a promise and a dream,” said Alfredo, who is an American who was born in Texas to immigrant parents from Mexico.
“There are better opportunities here, and our families wanted to come here and escape persecution and other bad things going on in their homes.
“What we are doing today is a first step. We don’t have much representation, and when it comes to my generation, we need to take a step forward for those who follow.
“Everything that we do reflects on them.”
Organizers of Thursday’s closures and demonstrations 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.
Restaurants closing in Oklahoma City weren’t just Mexican businesses, either.
Raul Ramos, owner of two Naylamp Peruvian restaurants here, said he had no problem when it came to deciding to close his businesses for the day.
“We are a family of immigrants, and we feel like the policies being put forward by President Trump about immigration are completely wrong,” Ramos said.
“As immigrants, we are helping to build this country and make it better in many ways.”
Ramos said he came to the U.S. from Peru 17 years ago to work for a company as an information technology specialist, and today is a naturalized citizen.
He said the nation needs to figure out how to get its undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.
“They are friends of ours, and our neighbors,” Ramos said. “Most came here to work hard, to pursue a dream to create a better future for themselves and their families.
“We need to give these guys a chance.”
Many Peruvians have come to the U.S., and Ramos said they and other immigrants all share common ground because they are trying to improve themselves.
“I wish this could have been planned and more structured,” Ramos said of Thursday’s event.
Hernandez, a firstgeneration American who has lived in Oklahoma since 1993, agreed, predicting there will be future, better organized demonstrations that will attract more notice.
What happened Thursday “was embraced here by local businesses and community members, but it could be embraced by more,” she said. “We need to step up and support and unite.
“This could be the first of more to come.”