More Than a Hundred People Were Fired for Participating In 'A Day Without Immigrants' Protest

By Aimée Lutkin | February 20, 2017 | 5:00pm

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On Thursday, businesses across the country shut down in solidarity with “A Day Without Immigrants,” during which immigrants and allies protested Trump’s Muslim Ban, ICE arrests, and the many threats against immigrants from the administration.

Some business that didn’t shut down still supported workers who wished to protest, as CNN reported, referencing a few restaurants in particular, like Little Red Fox restaurant in Washington, D.C., where the three immigrant women who took the day off prepped ahead of time to support their boss:

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NBC News reports that this was not the case for many workers who chose to strike. By their estimate, over a hundred people were fired for participating in the nationwide protest. Eighteen people were fired at commercial painting company Bradley Coatings in Tennessee. The company claims they were warned they’d be fired if they skipped work, but also that their reason for skipping work is not what lead to their firing:

Robert Peal, said in a statement obtained by the news station that all employees were told they risked termination if they skipped work on Thursday, but 18 did so anyway.

The attorney wrote: “Regretfully, and consistent with its prior communication to all its employees, BCI had no choice but to terminate these individuals. The reason these employees missed work — to engage in peaceful demonstrations — had nothing to do with BCI’s decision to terminate them.”

Two people were fired at Grace Community School in Bonita Springs in Florida, 25 at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant & Caterers in Long Island, 21 at a boat manufacturing company Encore Boat Builders in South Carolina, 12 at Oklahoma restaurant I Don’t Care Bar and Grill, and 30 masonry workers at JVS Masonry in Denver.

Fox 31 reports that at JVS Masonry, much like at BCI, the company isn’t connecting their terminations explicitly to the reason employees were striking. Boss Jim Serowski stated that he doesn’t care about immigration policies, he just believes that if you “stand for what you believe, make sure you stand for whatever consequences are going to come,” and says he will give the job back to anyone who asks. Otherwise, he’ll probably need thirty more trained employees pretty quick.