University of Wisconsin students joined the national “Day Without Immigrants” protest Feb. 14, which asked immigrants and allies not to attend school or work or spend money at non-immigrant-owned businesses.

UW student and organizer Stephanie Salgado said in an email statement to The Badger Herald she first heard about “A Day Without Immigrants” through Tik Tok, where Latiné influencers were promoting it.

Research led Salgado to discover that the movement aims to impact the economy on Valentine’s day, one of the most profitable days of the year.

“All of this effort was done to call out the Biden administration which has promised to establish more pathways to citizenship,” Salgado said. “The immigrant community is tired of hearing empty and forgotten promises from leaders who aim to gather voters just to later forget about them.”

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“A Day Without Immigrants” first took place in 2017 to show the importance of immigrants and to protest former President Donald Trump’s plans to potentially deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

The demonstration is meant to show the impact of immigrants on our society and economy, and pressure government officials to prioritize protecting immigrants, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

“As a Honduran immigrant that has recently gone through the Naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen, I know what it is like to be labeled less desirable due to your country of origin,” Salgado said. “Nobody wants to leave their country, their community and their families just to live in fear in a foreign country alone but sometimes the sacrifice is a better option than staying.”