30 Hispanic businesses in SW Florida to close for A Day Without Immigrants protest

At least 30 Hispanic-owned businesses across Southwest Florida plan to temporarily close their doors on Thursday in solidarity with the nationwide A Day Without Immigrants protest.

The protest has been called in response to Senate Bill 1718, signed recently by Gov. Ron DeSantis, requiring companies with more than 24 employees to use the federal E-Verify system for new hires starting July 1.

The DeSantis administration calls SB 1718 the strongest anti-illegal immigration legislation in the country to combat “the dangerous effects of illegal immigration caused by the federal government’s reckless border policies.”

However, the new legislation has sparked fear and concern in the immigrant community, even among those who are in the United States legally, or who are already working for exempt companies: those with 24 or fewer employers.

Protests are planned in Immokalee, Pierson, Jacksonville, Vero Beach, Tampa, Orlando and elsewhere in the United States.

Local businesses including Mexican restaurants and Latino groceries plan to close in Bradenton, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Arcadia, Zolfo Springs and Ellenton.

The nonprofit Latino Rebels website reported Tuesday that organizers are asking workers across the country to stay home on Thursday if they can’t attend a protest.

Local businesses, which are dependent on immigrant labor, ranging from construction to agriculture and hospitality, are taking the concerns seriously with reports that some apprehensive workers are packing up to leave Florida.

C.J. Czaia, a local personal injury attorney with a long track record of advocating for immigration reform, said SB 1718 could work to galvanize the growing Hispanic community in the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

“This could be the wake-up call to get people involved,” Czaia said Wednesday.

DeSantis’s signature on SB 1718 sparked an immediate protest in downtown Bradenton on May 12.

Leaders of local groups gathered to speak out against Florida’s new immigration law, which they said was discriminatory and would have an adverse affect on the area’s supply of available labor.

This week’s A Day Without Immigrants (Un Día Sin Inmigrantes) protest is not the nation’s first. In 2017, thousands of companies across the United States took part in a protest of President Donald Trump’s plans to seal the border with Mexico to halt the flow of immigrants.

During the 2017 protest, about 11% of Manatee County’s public school students stayed home.

During that protest, 5,107 of the district’s more than 48,000 students were marked absent, with the largest number being at the elementary school level.