“Our community is no longer afraid...They’ve taken so much from us that they’ve taken away our fear”: Miguel Andrade, Latino activist

"Where did everyone go?,” one would ask if you traveled around South Philadelphia this past Thursday.

A landscape of closed down businesses, empty streets, and classrooms filled with empty desk chairs, was a sight one doesn’t see outside of a holiday.

But  ‘A Day Without Immigrants’ in Philadelphia wasn’t a cause for celebration, but a call to action, according to local leaders that organized the protest in the city.

The protest was coordinated "to show what will happen if large scale raids ever hit Philadelphia," said Olivia Vázquez, Juntos community organizer.

And as businesses remained closed and children stayed home, a group of roughly 100 protesters lined against the walls of a modest room in South Philadelphia.

Under a timeline of immigration patterns in the United States and facing most of the major media networks in the city, Erika Almiron, Executive Director of Juntos and other community organizers took a stand against the anti-immigration rhetoric and policies they’ve seen, speaking for the roughly silent crowd.

“I think what you can see here is that everyone wants their human rights respected. So I don’t know if it’s about citizenship or not citizenship. I know that out of the conversations between everyone here, what they want is a dignified job, they want to be treated with respect, they want funded schools, they want to be able to go home and see their families that some haven’t seen for years,”” said Almiron. And though the path to citizenship may not be clear or even desirable in some eyes, Juntos is committed to maintaining their mission of protecting the local immigrant community from its 6th and Tasker location.

But despite the forces that they’re up against, the group is demanding that above all, they want to protect the basic rights they feel they’re being denied. “We need to think about how to penalize bosses who are ripping off people here. And better protections not just for us but for everybody,” said Almiron of the working conditions facing the community.

But while the conversation in cities such as Philadelphia centers on decriminalizing communities of color and ensuring city services and businesses fully support immigrant communities, the looming threat of ICE raids is not lost.

That fear is largely based on rhetoric coming directly from the president himself. “We’re in a situation right now where Trump is president and he is committed to actually criminalizing, detaining, deporting and incarcerating black and brown bodies. And until that changes, we will not be a sanctuary city,” said Almiron.

Citing the over-policing of communities, a stigma due to political campaigns and specifically mentioning Trump, the organizers shared they did not feel Philadelphia was a true sanctuary city.

The key, Almiron says, is ensuring that the city is a place where I cannot act. “We should be thinking about ways that we can limit the access that federal immigration and customs enforcement has in our city, creating ICE-free zones,” said Almiron.

While the city has committed to not detain people for ICE, this does not in any way, inhibit ICE from acting within city limits. And with the increase of anti-immigrant rhetoric from Trump and the passing of Senate Bill 10 in the Pennsylvania Senate, beyond ICE, it is a stigma they are up against.

“So when he markets out one person as a way to describe everybody, it’s actually his racism showing through. And he’s a racist, he’s a dictator, and we need to be clear about what we’re up against,” said Almiron. And while Almiron has declared several forces that Juntos is willing to fight, she is clear that it will be done together.

But the organizers of Juntos remain grounded in solidarity even beyond the stark situation they find themselves against.

The next protest, set to be much larger in scale, is due on May 1st, a day known as International Worker's Day.

Seeing the value in Almiron’s words, we posted the full question and answer with local media organizations below. (Questions have been paraphrased): 

Seeing the value in Almiron’s words, we posted the full question and answer with local media organizations below. (Questions have been paraphrased): 

You’ve said Philadelphia is not a sanctuary city, can you elaborate on that?

“So Philadelphia claims to be a sanctuary city but if we continue to have raids in this city and people can get pulled out of their houses, we’re not a sanctuary city. If people who are people of color - black or brown - are getting pulled over by police because of racial profiling, we’re not a sanctuary city. We’re in a situation right now where Trump is president and he is committed to actually criminalizing, detaining, deporting and incarcerating black and brown bodies and until that changes we will not be a sanctuary city.

What’s happening with the municipal ID bill?

“As far as we know, the municipal ID bill is moving, it still need to pass. It needs to go up before city council and there needs t one a budget that’s approved for it. Our concern has always been that it not be a scarlet letter for this community that it actually be something that people feel they can show and it not mark them as an immigrant. It needs to be a variety of people who can access it and that the data is protected and that the data doesn’t get crossed with immigration enforcement.

Donald Trump mentioned the DACA program and said he wanted to deal with it “with heart.” But later in the same day he mentioned that the babies protected by DACA could eventually become rapists. How does the Latino community feel about that?

“About him criminalizing us? I mean, I think that’s historic to this country and historic to this nation. I think that we’ve seen the criminalization of immigrants - we have a history line behind us that shows the history of migration in this country and that there have been moments where they have taken slews of immigrants from this country - and they do it first by criminalizing them and then by deporting them. So when our bodies are no longer useful in this country, they try to find a way to move us out. So we know that everybody here is a community that loves each other. We know everybody here is a community that cares for each other. So when he markets out one person as a way to describe everybody, it’s actually his racism showing through. And he’s a racist, he’s a dictator, and we need to be clear about what we’re up against.”

DACA has protected people thus far but is there concern over the large amount of data that is now in the hands of the government under DACA?

“I think right now, we don’t know what he’s gonna do with the DACA program. And I think right now as you can see there’s a community that’s ready to fight for every one of us and if he comes for us, I think we’re ready to fight back and I think that all these young people that he’s threatening to attack, we need to defend them and we need to defend everybody here - their parents, their loved ones. They have our information. That’s why raids have continued to happen right? So I don’t think that this is new. But we’ve seen in Seattle that they just detained a DACA recipient with no criminal record so we see what’s coming and that’s why we’re calling to do a day without immigrants like these , and we’re calling for a much larger one on May 1st nationally.”

What does an ideal immigration program look like?

“I think what you can see here is that everyone wants their human rights respected. So I don’t know if it’s about citizenship or not citizenship I know that out of the conversations between everyone here what they want is a dignified job, they want to be treated with respect, they want funded schools, they want to be able to go home and see their families that some haven’t seen for years, so I think that’s what we need to be talking about - what are the needs of our communities, why do people come here, what are the root causes and how do we address the root causes rather than criminalizing the community.”

So just to be clear there should be no crackdown on immigration. We should have fluid immigration and worry about citizenship once people arrive?

“I think citizenship is an option, and I think some people would argue for citizenship but I think that we’ve also seen that citizenship also hasn’t made things perfect for other communities of color, especially black communities. So how is it that we’re fighting for our human rights beyond citizenship.”

So what are some programs you would want to see in the Philadelphia community that would help immigrants feel at home?

“I think the first thing s that we have to do is that if everyone felt safe and they didn’t feel dragged out of the city and their home. We should be thinking about what are ways we can end deportation. we should be thinking about ways that we can limit the access that federal immigration and customs enforcement has in our city, creating ICE-free zones. We also need to talk about ways that our communities are criminalized, and having conversations about over-policing in our community and what are the policies like stop and frisk, cash bail systems, ending the cash bail systems, we need to be thinking about all of the ways that we’re being criminalized and ending that. We need to be think about ways we’re limiting database sharing between ICE, and we need to be thinking about ways that we’re funding our schools and giving our young people teachers that look like them, teachers that are bilingual. We need to be thinking about ways to help them not feel criminalized in school removing metal detectors from schools. We need to have a multicultural curriculum. They’re not teaching our young people anything about their culture. We need to think about health clinics. Al to f people don’t even have access to go to the doctors. We need to think about how to penalize bosses who are ripping off people here. And better protections not just for us but for everybody.”