American Museum removes immigrant artworks to protest Islamophobia, xenophobia

A museum at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts has removed or covered dozens of artworks produced by immigrant artists or donated by foreign-born collectors to illustrate their contribution to the cultural wealth of the United States.

The Art-Less project has effectively removed or shrouded 120 works of art, or about 20 percent of artwork on display in the galleries at Wellesley College's Davis Museum.

Museum Director Lisa Fischman says the Art-Less project illustrates the kind of loss that we would feel without the gifts of immigrant artists and immigrant collectors.

Museum visitor Audrey Stevens says the project is also a protest that sends a message that contribution from immigrants has made the US the desirable nation it is today.

Others have also taken up similar initiatives to protest President Donald Trump's treatment of immigrants.

From New York to Los Angeles, immigrants stayed home from work, kept their kids out of school, avoided buying gas and otherwise tried to illustrate the cost to America of going a day without them.

On Thursday, scores of Washington restaurants shut down out of solidarity with the largely low-earning people who staff them, a strike meant to show how important foreign born workers are to the economy.

Others shuttered because not enough staff showed up to work in the immigrant-dominated restaurant industry.

The mix of protest, boycott and strike comes as acute fear spreads across the country because of raids that have led to the arrest of hundreds of people without legal status to live in the US.

It also follows Trump's efforts to enforce an entry ban to nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump's executive order, which he signed last month, has since been suspended by US courts.

However, he said on Thursday that he would issue a revised version of the executive order to address the issues raised by the court over the previous one.

"The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision," he said.