While Philly will be bustling Sunday with hopeful Eagles fans cramming into bars and restaurants to watch the Super Bowl, more than two dozen businesses around the city will be closed to take a stand for immigrant rights amid a major shift in policies under the new Trump administration.
"Business leaders are calling local city leaders to take decisive steps to strengthen protections and opportunities for the immigrant community given the current anti-immigrant climate," A Super Bowl Without Immigrants, the organizers of the strike, said in a release.
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The 30 businesses that confirmed in an anonymous survey that they would shut down estimated that 380 workers will be staying home and the amount of sales lost for the day would total $83,000, organizer Gerardo Coronado Benitez said. The full list of businesses planning to strike was not provided.
“This movement is a way to get the big restaurants and food industry companies to take a stand in favor of their workers" said Cristobal Valencia, owner of La Roma in Port Richmond, who plans to close his restaurant. "… A Super Bowl day without migrants will be a powerful way for these businesses to realize how valuable these people are to their operations.”
Sunday's closures will kick off a week off action, with supporters being encouraged to not spend money at large corporations and go to local immigrant businesses on Valentine’s Day.
The group is urging Mayor Cherelle Parker to maintain Philly's status as a sanctuary city and reinforce policies that protect the immigrant community, including providing legal assistance in deportation cases, allocating more resources to schools and strengthening legislation to protect families and children.
“For me, it is important that the community that comes to dine at my restaurant understands the pressure I am facing, not only as a business owner but also as a person," said Felipa Ventura, owner of Taquería Morales in South Philly and president of the Mexican Entrepreneurs Association. "Everything we have fought for and achieved is being lost, and I cannot stay silent or do nothing.”
Since President Donald Trump took office last month, there have been at least two raids in the city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Seven undocumented migrants were detained at a car wash in Juniata Park on Jan. 28, and a couple days later agents showed up at Boricua Restaurant #2 in Port Richmond, but the owners said in an Instagram post all of their paperwork was in order and the officers didn't have a warrant so they were denied access to the kitchen.
On Friday, City Council members, state politicians and immigration experts held a news conference to provide an update on Philly's efforts and residents' rights in the wake of Trump's immigration efforts.
And on Saturday, police arrested a Temple University student and charged him with impersonated an ICE agent on campus.
"There has been an increase in uncertainty and fear among immigrants due to certain policies and rhetoric that foster exclusion," said Juan Carlos Romero, the former president of AEM. "However, we have also witnessed solidarity and resistance within the community."
And the reach of this crusade has stretched to an unlikely place – at least for this weekend. With the Eagles playing the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the Philly group reached an agreement with AIRR KC, a migrant advocacy organization in Kansas City, to lead this movement in their city.
"This collaboration strengthens our initiative and demonstrates the unity of immigrant communities across different cities," Romero said.
