April 4, 2017. In Connecticut, the “Here To Stay” rally is being planned by state officials and advocacy groups in order to protest mass deportation strategies and to call attention to the economic contributions of immigrants. According to the article, this will be done through marches, rallies, music, food and stories. This article highlights the small business ownership statistic for Connecticut from FPI’s report, “Immigrant Small Business Owners: A Significant and Growing Part of the Economy.”
The Connecticut demonstration on April 29 will be one of many held across the nation as part of May Day, a day traditionally heralded as International Workers’ Day. It will include lawmakers, labor union leaders and advocacy groups.
According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research center, 16 percent of small business owners in Connecticut were foreign born as of 2010, said Melissa-Sue John, a lecturer at Eastern Connecticut State University and an immigrant from Jamaica, at the press conference.
“These are the people that make this country work, these are the people that power this economy. And so when we talk about an administration that has launched a full-on attack and assault on immigrants, I want everybody to understand that it isn’t just one administration attacking a small group of people. Because we’re not a small group of people, we’re the American people,” he said.
Here is the link to the Hartford Courant.