The movement, Day Without an Immigrant, spread Monday throughout the country, and found its way to Montgomery County.
The initiative seeks to raise awareness of the role immigrants play in the American workforce and economy. The social media campaign also is a response to the anti-immigration policies of President Donald Trump, who has pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history.
Growing concern for the safety of the Hispanic and Latino community has been ongoing in recent weeks. Last week, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle was spotted in traffic Friday evening along Washington Street. The image was shared on local community pages.
The movement encouraged immigrants and advocates with the slogan: no school, no work, no shopping — recommending participants refrain from those things on Monday. The purpose was to highlight the essential role immigrants play in the economy and local communities.
One Ladoga-based business, Emporium 109, announced their participation in the movement on Facebook, Sunday evening.
“We will be closed tomorrow, Monday, February 3rd joining many other businesses, in observance of A Day Without An Immigrant, a peaceful protest demonstrating solidarity with our community, including friends, family, colleagues, and the immigrant and Latino population,” the business stated in their post.
Dr. Rex Ryker, Crawfordsville schools’ superintendent, said a few local parents took part in the movement on Monday by keeping their students home from school.
“We appear to have an increased number of absences for our students across all of our buildings,” Ryker said. “We have had only a few parents report that their student’s absence is associated with the demonstration.”
Superintendent Colleen Moran of North Montgomery said no absences were reported in observation of the movement and Southmont Schools did not respond.
A Day Without an Immigrant isn’t a new concept. A similar movement, A Day Without Immigrants, was held Feb. 16, 2017. It was conducted to send a message to President Trump, who was in his first term in office, as a response to his pledges to crackdown on immigrants entering the United States.