Did you notice empty desks on Tuesday? Several students participated in the Day Without Immigrants protest.
“The Trump administration, ever since it was elected to a second term, has unleashed a wave of terror and hatred that has cast a dark shadow over every immigrant in the United States, both illegal and legal. With each new policy, each attack on very human dignity itself, they paint us as threats rather than the hardworking human beings we are. They strip us of the protections and promises that once offered us hope and security within this great nation; legal immigrants who follow the law and are upstanding citizens in their communities now face the constant threat of being wrongfully torn from their families because an ICE agent must meet a quota,” Ubaldo Rodriguez, protest participant and senior, said.
The Day Without Immigrants presentation was created in 2017 to protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown; with his returning presidency and increasing ICE raids, the protest continues. This protest was to show what America would be like without the contributions of immigrants, and it seems to have worked.
James Griffone, environmental science teacher, noticed such a lack of students on the day of the protest that he had to cancel that day’s assignment plans and change them at the last minute.
Students believe in this issue; they believe this protest will show the country how they feel, and they want this country to change back to the Statue of Liberty’s promise of “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
“Those most vulnerable, the poor who have fled poverty and violence in their own countries and do not have the means to gain citizenship or ‘green cards’ are forced to live in the darkness as the American dream they were once promised has been exposed to be nothing but a facade, and they now face the same hatred that they attempted to escape from, vulnerable to deportation and abuse. Politics aside, the message is clear: immigrant lives, documented or not, do not matter to a system prioritizing cruelty and false righteousness of sham,” Rodriguez said.
19% of the labor force is made up of immigrants according to the Bureau of Labor.
“Trying to get rid of all ‘illegal’ immigrants will do nothing but harm our country. They are most of the manual workforce and they work hard for their families. That’s what my grandpa did and his daughters now have master’s degrees in both their fields. No one is illegal on stolen land,” Chris Garcia, protest participant and senior, said.
Students had various reasons for participating, but the overall message is for basic humanity.
“I participated because the fabric of this nation, built on the backs of immigrants, is being shredded before our eyes, and the once-respected ideals of justice, freedom, and opportunity are under attack by an oligarchy hellbent on corrupting our fundamental American principles. To dehumanize us is to disown your identity as an American,” Rodriguez said.