Chanting "Yes we can" and waving hand-scrawled signs, small armies of demonstrators missed work and marched along bustling city streets from New York to Los Angeles during a national "A Day Without Immigrants" intended to highlight the contributions of the immigrant community in the US. "We play a huge part in this country's economy because all we do is work to get ahead," Trinidad Macias, owner of Taqueria Los Jaliscienses in Austin, Texas, told CNN affiliate KXAN. "It has been said that we have been a sleeping giant," Jorge Mujica, an activist with the community organization Arise Chicago, told CNN affiliate WLS . "We are not criminals," he told WLS. They carried signs with messages such as "Immigrants We Get The Job Done" and "They Will Not Build Borders in Our Community," CNN affiliate WJLA reported.

Source: CNN February 16, 2017 22:52 UTC