The nationwide protest known as “A Day Without Immigrants” took place Monday, with businesses closing, workers staying home, and students skipping school in opposition to former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Protesters aimed to highlight the reliance of American society on undocumented workers. However, some tactics, such as burning the American flag while waving the Mexican flag, sparked controversy.
“I support peaceful protest,” said Ryan Bushnell, a member of the Fort Bragg Planning Commission. “But when I see people burning the American flag, I think that’s disrespectful. If I went to another country and did that, it wouldn’t end well.”
Bushnell, who does not identify with either major political party, supports deporting violent criminals but advocates for a legal pathway for law-abiding immigrants.
“Why not document the undocumented?” he asked. "I think that everybody would win if we just did something like that."
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was the last meaningful attempt by Congress to address the immigration issue. The act provided legal status to about 2.7 million immigrants who had entered the country before 1982. It also made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants.
The Center for American Progress estimates that "putting undocumented immigrants on a pathway to citizenship would increase U.S. GDP by up to $1.7 trillion over the next decade, raise wages for all Americans, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs."
In contrast, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that Americans pay $182 billion for services provided to people without legal status in the United States. "Approximately $31 billion is received from illegal aliens in taxes, only 17 percent of the costs they create," Julie Kirchner, executive director of FAIR, testified before Congress last year.
Protests continued through the week. On Friday, students at a school in Buena Park in Los Angeles skipped school to protest a social media post by a teacher's aide that showed a burning Mexican flag with the words: "If yall have flags, I'll burn them for you! This is America. They are deporting criminals!!"
