Why Your Favorite Bodega May Be Closed Today

President Trump’s recent immigration ban has been a disheartening site to watch, to say the least. And now, it has infiltrated the New York City food scene in a big way.

A group of Yemeni business owners have reportedly banned together to make a statement in response to Trump’s executive order. Each participating store owner will close their doors today from the hours of 12pm and 8pm, which may leave hundreds of New Yorkers hungry without their daily tres golpes and Arizona iced tea.

Later, after the bodega hiatus, organizers plan to hold a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall. The bodega owners hope to get the rest of the city on board to prove that each owner – and bodega, by association – is an integral part of The Big Apple. “This shutdown of grocery stores and bodegas will be a public show of the vital role these grocers and their families play in New York’s economic and social fabric,” a Facebook event advertises.

According to NBC, several thousand of these types of corner stores are owned by immigrants from Yemen, but many others hail from the additional six Muslim-majority countries that are temproarily banned, such as Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Zaid Nagi, a Bronx-based bodega owner, says he’s shutting his business down in honor of his mother who’s currently stuck in Jordan. “We are hard working individuals who work long hours to establish businesses, who play by the rules that have been set by the system…Our community was shocked when the executive order was released,” he said.

Trump’s order will continue for the next 90 days, which can only leave us to assume that there are many more bodega closings to come.