NEW YORK - Immigrants in the city and across the country are staying home from work and school today as part of the "Day Without Immigrants" protest.
Several businesses around the city have closed their doors for the day, including the El Cocotero restaurant in Chelsea.
A sign in the window reads: "Sorry!! We love America but Goverment doesn't love us. See u soon"
Another business taking part is the Blue Ribbon Restaurant group, which operates several locations around the city.
The protest is meant to demonstrate the importance of immigrants to the U.S. economy and way of life.
It comes in response to President Donald Trump's efforts to ban travel from seven Muslim countries, increase deportations of people living here illegally, and build a wall along the border with Mexico.
One supporter of the movement says it's important to realize that we're all immigrants.
"We need them. They're part of our society, they're part of who we are. They're part of who we are. We're all immigrants so we need them, we need them around. They need us, we need them," said the supporter.
Earlier this month, business owners from the city's Yemeni community closed their doors for several hours to protest the president's travel ban.