Essex County Workers Join National ‘Day Without Immigrants’ Protest

NEWARK, NJ — What would America be like without the positive contributions that immigrants have made over the years? On Thursday, Essex County got a small taste of the answer to that question when local activists and workers participated in a national “Day Without Immigrants” protest.

Protests and work stoppages took place at grocery stores, restaurants, construction companies and other businesses across the country, including Newark, New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago.

• See related article: 'Day Without Immigrants' Closes Businesses Across American Cities

In Newark, several businesses on Ferry Street reportedly closed in support of the day of action, putting up signs in English, Spanish and Portuguese that read:

"Nos unimos a un dia sin immigrantes, CLOSED! (We are joining the day without immigrants)”

The #DayWithoutImmigrants also affected U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, whose office is located in Newark.

“No place to get their morning coffee serves as just one small example to senators, staff and lobbyists of the impact of immigrants in our daily lives,” Menendez stated on Twitter.

State Senator Teresa Ruiz, who also has an office in Newark, wrote that she “stands in solidarity with everyone who demonstrated support [Thursday] for the immigrants in our communities.”

U.S. Senator Cory Booker, a former Newark mayor, wrote that he stands “100 %” with the Day Without Immigrants movement.

The Day Without Immigrants protests took place on the same day a group of Newark imams and religious leaders gathered in a show of opposition to President Trump’s recent executive order banning immigration from several nations with majority Muslim populations.

A report from the Partnership for a New American Economy (NAE), foreign-born immigrants made up 22 percent of the New Jersey’s population and contributed $19.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2014… about 23.6 percent of the Garden State’s total share that year.

• See related article: N.J. Immigrants Are ‘Taxpaying, Hardworking Residents’

According to the study, occupations with large percentages of foreign-born workers in 2014 included:

• Maids and housekeeping cleaners – 65 percent
• Taxi drivers and chauffeurs – 64 percent
• Software developers – 64 percent
• Packers and packagers – 59 percent
• Production workers (ex. cooling and freezing equipment operators) - 51 percent
• Personal care aides – 51 percent
• Computer programmers – 49 percent
• Painters, construction and maintenance workers – 48 percent
• Cooks – 48 percent
• Construction laborers – 46 percent

Photo: Robert Menendez, Facebook

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