As ICE detains locals, dozens of businesses join A Day Without Immigrants

Pittsburgh’s immigrant community is scared — but it has the support of dozens of local business and city leadership, whose representatives gathered Feb. 3 to observe A Day Without Immigrants. At least 60 businesses closed Monday in solidarity, and local leaders encouraged people not to spend money as part of a national day of action.

“Even though these people are going to lose money today because they’re not open, that’s nothing compared to what can happen for the years to come if things continue to be the way that they’re going right now,” Casa San José Executive Director Monica Ruiz told assembled media.

Ruiz was referring in large part to raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been making targeted raids across the country following Donald Trump’s inauguration as President.

Ruiz said ICE raids in Pittsburgh led to detaining some citizens and legal residents. She said the entire Latino community in Pittsburgh and surrounding counties is scared, with many workers staying home from their jobs. “Just today, two people were picked up with [legal immigration] status. So people are afraid to be walking around going to work because of the color of their skin.” For that reason, businesses participating in A Day without Immigrants were doing so without fanfare.

“ICE is very, very active,” Ruiz said. “This morning alone, I know of three targeted areas.” She said Casa San José had heard reports of raids in Butler and Washington counties, as well.

Part of A Day Without Immigrants, Ruiz and others said, was to call attention to the economic impact of immigration. Guillermo Velazquez, executive director of the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation (PHDC), said absent employees and depleted workforces would have major ripple effects.

“Very proudly, we can say that a lot of Latinos have created new companies, created jobs, [bought] houses, and all of that is really what we want in this region … since 2017, we have incorporated already 185 new companies,” Velazquez told press. “Immigrants basically contribute about $2 billion in revenue to the state. So it’s something that, in terms of economics, we are worried about.”

The speakers all emphasized Pittsburgh’s historic status as a haven for immigrants, many of whom arrived before the Immigration Act of 1924. Pittsburgh Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak noted that new waves of immigrants, including his ancestors, were crucial to the city’s growth at the turn of the 20th century.

“I’m a fourth-generation Polish American and fourth-generation Pittsburgher. If we were having this conversation in 1925 instead of in 2025, we’d be talking about my family’s hardware store in Lawrenceville or their butcher shop in Polish Hill,” Pawlak said.

Pawlak noted that around 10% of Pittsburghers were foreign-born as of the last census, including the city’s Bhutanese refugee community, growing Uzbek population, and the flourishing Hispanic and Latino community. Ruiz said Casa San José has gone from assisting 400 people per year before COVID to more than 6,000 in 2024, and the community center is working to expand its physical footprint as empty storefronts fill along Broadway Ave. in Beechview.

While the political situation remains volatile, speakers said that, beyond A Day Without Immigrants, they encourage locals to support immigrant-owned businesses — and not to share potential misinformation. False secondhand reports of ICE raids have added to an already challenging situation.

“I would highly encourage people not to share information unless it’s valid because that’s what’s scaring people,” Ruiz said.

The City of Pittsburgh is limited in the scope of what it can do, as ICE is executing civil, not criminal, warrants. Pittsburgh law enforcement doesn’t collect or share information on immigration status, and city officials find out about ICE actions as they happen. Pawlak said mis- and disinformation has also made it difficult to get an estimate on the total number of deportation raids — “I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess, because I can’t assure you that I can distinguish between rumor and fact,” he said.

But city officials remain committed to supporting the local immigrant community. Velazquez and Ruiz both noted the essential role recent arrivals have played in contributing tax revenue, renovating aging buildings, enlivening business corridors, and helping the Steel City pivot to a post-industrial era.

“It’s a scare tactic to label people as criminals, when really, in fact, they’re not. They’re on the way to work, right?” Ruiz said. “Pittsburgh is an immigrant town. All of the bridges, all of the steel, all of the tunnels, were built by immigrants.”

This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2025.