Businesses stand with workers on national ‘Day Without Immigrants’
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Feb. 22, 2017, edition of The Ark. It earned third place for Best Business Story in the National Newspaper Association’s 2018 Better Newspapers Contest.
By DEIRDRE McCROHAN
dmccrohan@thearknewspaper.com
Several Tiburon restaurants shut down Feb. 16 as part of the nationwide “Day Without Immigrants” protest, a call for all immigrants — naturalized to undocumented — to boycott work, school and shopping in response to the Trump administration’s tough stance on immigration.
Word of the protest was decentralized, spreading mostly through social media and messaging apps, and businesses closed across the U.S. as residents participated in marches, rallies and other protests in Washington, D.C., Chicago and elsewhere.
Protests in Tiburon were subdued but widespread, with at least four downtown businesses and cafes closing shop.
Sam’s Anchor Cafe co-owner Brian Wilson said his immigrant employees and their supporters met with him Feb. 15 and requested the next day off to observe the protest. He agreed and closed the restaurant for the day in support, making it clear no participating employees would suffer negative consequences.
Salt & Pepper restaurant on Main Street had a flier on the door noting that it was closed in observance of the protest.
While others were closed, it wasn’t clear whether business owners stood in protest alongside their workers or closed because they would not be fully staffed.
Among them, Tiburon Tavern was closed for the day, but a representative said the restaurant had no comment.
Rustic Bakery closed not only its Boardwalk Shopping Center location for the day, but its two bakery locations in Larkspur.
A message on the door read: “We respect the rights of our employees to express their opinions and exercise their option to protest. After careful consideration, we have decided that it would be best to be closed today in lieu of having a less than full staff available to serve you.”
Co-owner Carol LeValley did not respond to requests for further comment by press time.
Gordon Noble of Tiburon said he learned about the protest while walking by Rustic Bakery.
“We’re a society of inclusion and I agree with the protest that is going on,” he said.
Mo Newman of Tiburon also supported the protest.
“I think it’s wonderful and I think we should support these people who have been pushed around by the president,” Newman said.
Meanwhile, Luna Blu owner Crystal Azzarello, a native of Oxford, England, and her co-owner husband Renzo, a native Sicilian, offered their employees the opportunity to take the day off as an unpaid holiday — but the restaurant cut back its hours recently and the employees didn’t want to lose pay, she said.
When Belvedere Land Co. co-president Andrew Allen found out about the protest, he said he put the word out that any employee, immigrant or not, who wanted to take the day off in support of the protest would be welcome to do so. No one took him up on the offer, he said — another storm was coming in and the Belvedere Land crew was busy with preparations.
Reed Union School District Superintendent Nancy Lynch reported that one Del Mar Middle School student stayed home because of the protest.
Across the country, about 26.3 million immigrants were in the workforce in 2015, nearly 17 percent of all workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some 48.8 percent are Latino, followed by 24.1 percent Asian.
The Pew Research Center says the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. hit a seven-year low in 2014, with an estimated 11.1 million versus 12.2 million in 2007. California has the highest number of foreign-born residents, at 27 percent.
President Donald Trump has said he wants to deport 2 million to 3 million undocumented immigrants “that are criminal and have criminal records,” he told CBS shortly after his election in November, softening a campaign promise to deport all 11 million. He has also proposed building a series of fences and walls across the U.S.-Mexico border that, according to a recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report, would cost $21.6 billion.
Citing national-security concerns, Trump has also attempted to crack down on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, banning visa holders and nearly all refugees from entering the U.S. for 90 days. An executive order signed Jan. 27 was in effect for a week — causing chaos at airports and confusion within the government — before being put on hold by a federal court.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then refused to overturn the hold, saying the order may have illegally limited due process, used a religious test to disfavor Muslims from those countries, and failed to prove the U.S. was in imminent danger while the order itself harmed workers, students and families.
The court was considering an 11-judge review of its earlier decision when the Trump administration withdrew its review request on Feb. 16. Instead, the administration said it would issue a new executive order that could withstand court challenges.
Executive Editor Kevin Hessel contributed to this report. Deirdre McCrohan has reported on Tiburon local government and community issues for more than 25 years. Reach her at 415–944–4634.
