WASHINGTON — Demonstrators gathered Thursday afternoon outside the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which is being transformed into the Trump International Hotel.
Maryland House Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, of Montgomery County, joined other members of the Latino community in a small protest against Donald Trump.
Trump has a long-term lease on the landmark carved-granite building, and he promises a world-class hotel with shops and restaurants.
After his recent remarks about Mexico and Mexican immigrants, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has asked him to apologize. Her legislation cleared the way for Trump to win the competition to remodel the building.
“We don’t want him to treat us this way,” says Mariano Villa, a protester. “We are not what he says.”
Holmes Norton says Trump is doing business in D.C., “a town that honors diversity and welcomes Mexican-Americans and other immigrants from all over the world.”
On Wednesday, celebrity chef José Andrés announced he will no longer be opening a restaurant at Trump’s upcoming hotel.
“Donald Trump’s recent statements disparaging immigrants make it impossible for my company and I to move forward with opening a successful Spanish restaurant in Trump International’s upcoming hotel in Washington, D.C.,” Andrés said in a statement.
The Trump International Hotel is expected to open next year.
WTOP’s Andrew Mollenbeck contributed to this report.
