Oak Park Mayor Closes His Own Restaurant In Support Of 'A Day Without Immigrants'

More than 50 Chicago restaurants are closed Thursday in recognition of “A Day Without Immigrants,” but one Oak Park eatery’s decision to shut down is personal to the community.

Maya Del Sol, a Latin American restaurant on South Oak Park Avenue, is owned by the village’s mayor, Anan Abu-Taleb, the Wednesday Journal reported. Taleb himself is a Palestinian immigrant who’s been in the United States for nearly 40 years.

Oak Park hasn’t been a stranger to the recent immigration situation — citizens jumped in feet-first after President Trump announced his immigration ban and created a “welcoming ordinance” that ensures all immigrants, citizens and non-citizens are accepted in the Oak Park community.

Abu-Taleb is no exception.

“There is not one day in my life that I’m not grateful I was given the opportunity to live this American dream,” he told the Wednesday Journal. “The sum of all these American dreams is what makes us a country of opportunity.”

At a recent village board meeting, the Cook County Chronicle reported, Abu-Taleb spoke of his own experiences as an immigrant — an immigrant who was born and raised in a Muslim community, and one who considers himself an American.

“The president’s policies of exclusion and hate are at odds with fundamental American values,” he said at the meeting. “No one single man or administration should have the right to destroy our values.”

Oak Park has a long-standing reputation as a welcoming community, the village stated in a February release, and was one of the first communities in the U.S. to enforce a Human Rights Ordinance in 1968. Since then, officials said, the community has been dedicated to accepting all its residents, no matter their gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, race or country of origin.

In most ways, they said, “the ordinance means business as usual in Oak Park.”

Abu-Taleb told the Wednesday Journal that Thursday’s strike is an important way to show how integral immigrants are to every community.

“Some people have worked for us for 30 years, and we’ve seen them raise their families in this country; we’ve seen their kids become chefs and lawyers and doctors and carpenters and construction workers — and they’re very anxious,” he said.

Abu-Taleb further called President Trump’s new immigration policies “inhumane.”

“I’m shook up about this whole thing,” he told the Wednesday Journal. “It’s hard to look in these people’s eyes and see how afraid they are. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with immigrants and be exposed to their families. When we get to know one another and look at one another in a way that we are the same, everything changes.”

More Patch coverage on 'A Day Without Immigrants' Strikes:

WATCH: Thousands Join 'Day Without Immigrants' Protest March in Chicago

Chef Rick Bayless Closes 4 Chicago Restaurants As Part Of 'Day Without Immigrants' Protest

Geneva Business Shows Support for Immigrant Workers

--

Image via Shutterstock