From left, Monica Ruiz, executive director of Casa San Jose, Guillermo Velazquez, executive director of Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation, and Jake Pawlak, deputy mayor for the City of Pittsburgh, talk with the media about “A Day Without Immigrants” at a press conference at the PHDC’s Beechview headquarters, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. Some 60 unidentified businesses and members of the community joined a nationwide call to stop work and purchases to show the economic might of immigrants across the country. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
More than 60 unidentified businesses were closed Monday, advocates said, to draw attention to the feat Pittsburgh’s immigrant community has faced since Trump took office.
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by Charlie Wolfson, PublicSource
More than 60 immigrant-owned and allied businesses in the Pittsburgh area were closed Monday in protest of the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement and rhetoric surrounding immigrants, the leaders of two leading nonprofits supporting the local Latino community said Monday.
Monica Ruiz, the executive director of Casa San Jose, which provides support services to more than 6,000 in the local Latino community annually, said many local businesses are struggling because employees are afraid to go to work for fear of being detained by federal immigration enforcement.
“I think it’s important to understand that what’s happening now politically is scaring people,” Ruiz said. “People are afraid to go to work whether they have status or not. … People are afraid to be walking around, going to work because of the color of their skin.”
The business closures were part of a nationwide “Day Without Immigrants” protest, with people refraining from work and making purchases in numerous cities.
“If businesses want to turn away customers for a day to protest criminal illegal immigrants being deported and our immigration laws being enforced, so be it,” wrote Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, in response to a request for comment from PublicSource. “The Trump administration will continue to prioritize the well being and safety of American citizens above all else.”
Ruiz referenced the ramp-up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE} activity since President Donald Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20, a follow-through on the president’s campaign promise to conduct a “mass deportation” of undocumented immigrants. Ruiz could not say how many people have been detained by ICE in Pittsburgh, though she said enforcement so far has been targeted against individuals, not sweeping raids at workplaces.
She also declined to disclose which businesses are among the 60 or so which closed Monday in solidarity, citing widespread fear of retaliation.
Ruiz said the action Monday is meant to remind the broader community of the role immigrants play in Pittsburgh’s economy and society.
“I’m assuming someone … went to their favorite restaurant and it’s going to be closed,” Ruiz said. “It’s a little inconvenient, maybe. But just imagine the inconvenience if that restaurant and many others didn’t exist. … Even though these people are going to lose money today because they’re not open, that’s nothing compared to what can happen for the years to come if things continue to be the way they’re going right now.”
Guillermo Velazquez, executive director of a small-business incubator serving immigrants, said his organization Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation helped launch 33 businesses last year, which have combined for $10 million in sales.
Velazquez is a member of the PublicSource Board of Directors.
While Ruiz said the federally-controlled ICE has been very active in the region, a Pittsburgh city official said local law enforcement will have no role in carrying out the president’s enforcement plan.
“We do not collect information on someone’s citizenship or immigration status in the course of law enforcement” or at any other time, said Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak, speaking at a press conference alongside Velazquez and Ruiz. “… We want you to feel safe calling the police when your neighbor’s house is on fire. … It’s not information that we’re withholding [from ICE], it’s information that we don’t have.”
In addition to ramping up deportation efforts, Trump also suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program indefinitely on his first day in office, cutting off a steady flow of new Pittsburgh residents that go through strict vetting procedures and often wait years in unstable countries.
Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource’s local government reporter. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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