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Closed for business: Some Charlotte businesses shutter in support of ‘Day Without Immigrants’

Tacos El Nevado is one of many immigrant-owned businesses in Charlotte that closed Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.
Julian Berger
/
WFAE
Tacos El Nevado is one of many immigrant-owned businesses in Charlotte that closed Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.

Some immigrant-owned businesses in Charlotte are closed Monday to support a nationwide protest called “Day Without Immigrants.”

"A Day Without Immigrants" calls on workers and students to stay home and for businesses to stay closed. Immigrants are also asked not to buy anything.

The movement aims to show the role immigrants play in the U.S. economy and protest increased deportations and the threat of stepped-up enforcement raids. According to the American Immigration Council, undocumented immigrants had $254 billion in spending power in 2022.

A similar movement occurred during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Numerous immigrant-owned businesses in Charlotte closed on Monday, including Tacos El Nevado, Don Pedro Mexican Restaurant and El Alma de la Luna Dance Academy.

These businesses will open back up Tuesday morning.

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A fluent Spanish speaker, Julian Berger will focus on Latino communities in and around Charlotte, which make up the largest group of immigrants. He will also report on the thriving immigrant communities from other parts of the world — Indian Americans are the second-largest group of foreign-born Charlotteans, for example — that continue to grow in our region.