MIAMI (AP) - Hundreds of advocates, farmworkers and other immigrants took to the streets of several Florida cities on May Day to demand worker’s rights and to protest against the deportation of those in the country illegally.
Restaurants, juice bars and money transfer businesses closed Monday in immigrant-rich communities, such as Florida City and Homestead, where about 200 farmworkers and their families marched, some carrying buckets of tomatoes and zucchinis.
Most of the signs held aloft alluded to the migrants’ work in the Florida fields, such as one reading, “without these hands, there would be no tomatoes.”
Among the demonstrators were small business owners who decided to close their shops to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration directives. Others didn’t take their children to school.
Alberto and Maribel Resendiz closed their juice bar for the day, calculating a $3,000 loss. “This is the day where people can see how much we contribute. This country will crumble down without us,” said Alberto Resendiz, who previously worked as a migrant worker in Michigan and North Carolina.
Norberta Rubio, who is in the country without legal permission, decided not to send her 5-year-old daughter to kindergarten, even when the teacher threatened the girl with a suspension if she didn’t. “I told her that we always like participating in the rallies. I don’t know much about politics, but I know how important it is for people to see we are supporting one another,” Rubio said.
More demonstrations were held in downtown Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.
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