Here’s what’s going on with the “day without immigrants” signs you keep seeing today

To protest Donald Trump’s stance on immigration, many immigrants from around the U.S. today are skipping work, refraining from shopping, and in some cases keeping their children home from school to show just how essential immigrants are to this country. The protest is called the “day without immigrants,” and is already underway. The movement is in response both to the President’s Muslim ban, which is temporarily on hold, and his plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

It’s unclear as of now how big the impact will be, but so far some of the images are POWERFUL.

According to the New York Times, Washington D.C., due to its proximity to Trump himself, is a hotspot for the protest today, with at least 12 restaurants closing completely.

Celebrity chef José Andrés says that, for him, the decision to shutter several of his restaurants for the day in solidarity with his employees was simple.

“It was a very easy decision,” Andrés told NPR in a recent interview. “When you have employees that have been with you almost 25 years, and they come to you in an organized way and they tell you, ‘Don’t get upset but Thursday we are not coming to work,’ [the] next thing you ask is, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’ So I decided to join them and support them — that’s what we’re doing.”

Other cities that are expecting to see a substantial amount of immigrants participating include Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Here’s a photo of some of the protests:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQlWKQvlH8X

One particularly fiery sign from today reads, “While this may be an ‘inconvenience’ for some, it is nowhere near the ‘inconvenience’ that the current administration has caused for our good, hard-working brothers and sisters. Resist!”

We are proud that immigrants are taking a stand. We are more powerful together.