Immigrants skip work, school to show their importance in American society

SAN ANTONIO – Hundreds of thousands of people across the nation, immigrants and supporters, filled the streets of Illinois, Minnesota, D.C. and other part of the U.S. to show what it would be like to have a "Day Without Immigrants."

People skipped work and school, hoping to demonstrate their importance in the American economy. The protest was aimed at President Donald Trump’s effort to crack down on immigration.

Andrea Osorio said her reward after a hard day’s work is eating dinner with her family. It isn’t easy earning it.

Osorio’s four children help with the cleaning business she’s built over two decades.

“They clean bathrooms. They know everything,” she said.

Osorio earns $200-$250 a day. It’s money she went without on Thursday to make a statement.

“The worst job, the work that nobody can work with, they don't want to do it so we do it,” she said.

Bella’s on the East Side is known as the place to get some late night food, but it’s been closed all day. Several restaurant owners in San Antonio decided to take a stand as well.

Osorio is one of the 100 members of a local group of domestic workers who didn’t pick up a broom Thursday.

Domesticas Unidas Director Araceli Herrera organized the protest locally.

Moving from Mexico with her parents at 13, Osorio admits she is not a U.S. citizen, but it didn’t stop her from speaking.

“Maybe we're undocumented, I know, but we work hard,” she said. “I mean, we work hard. We work hard."

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