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Al O'Donnell has some office work to catch up on today, and it's a good thing.

The president of O'Donnell Landscapes Inc. expects most of his approximately 100 workers will be in Fort Myers instead of at his Estero business today, participating in a march protesting an immigration reform bill being considered in Washington, D.C.

Wearing white and carrying American flags, thousands are expected to meet today at 3 p.m. and march in a peaceful demonstration in a show of force against proposed measures that could potentially fence the border between the U.S. and Mexico and mean jail time for undocumented workers.

With the estimated crowd for the march ranging from 15,000 to 25,000, earth in Southwest Florida will go untended for an afternoon, restaurants will close and hammering will fall silent.

Fort Myers officials issued a statement Sunday, saying travel delays are expected in east Fort Myers. They urged drivers to avoid the area and for residents to make alternate plans, since they may not have access to their homes during some parts of the day and possibly into the night.

Some people living near the march route may not be able to leave or return to their homes during certain periods of the day so they should make alternate plans ahead of time, Fort Myers officials said.

O'Donnell said he didn't promote or discourage the event, but left the decision to attend up to his employees.

Some people today will work only half a day to participate in the march, said Jose Rodriguez, one of its organizers and a member of the Immigrant Latinos United in Florida. Others will call in sick, or choose not to go to work at all, he said.

Hispanic residents around the country are expected to do the same today in a "National Day of Silence." Those opposing the bill are being encouraged to stay home from school and work, not take public transportation and refrain from shopping or patronizing businesses like movie theaters.

Maria's Restaurant in Bonita Springs and Fort Myers won't open at all.

Owners Maria and Jose Antonio Romero said instead they will hand out water and help with Spanish to English translation at the march.

"Whatever they need, I'll do it," Jose Romero said. "Everybody is supporting the march."

Students at Estero High School already walked out of class April 4 in a preview to today's event.

Lee County Schools are on spring break this week.

Spokesman Joe Donzelli said though the staff of the district's downtown Fort Myers headquarters will be reporting to work, no problems or major absences are expected.

Grace Community Schools in Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Naples Park and Golden Gate will close their doors, however, after several teachers said they would attend the protest.

In a letter sent home to parents and guardians, school officials said, while all of their teachers were documented, some of them wanted to take off work to protest in solidarity with the illegal immigrants in the community.

"We regret this inconvenience, but we do not want to accept children to the school with inadequate staff to care for them," wrote the Rev. Jeremy Walker and Abigail Walker to parents at the Grace Community School in Bonita Springs.

Ruth Smith, director of the Grace Community School in Golden Gate, said all of the teachers who requested the time off were in good standing.

"We didn't have a choice," she said. "Enough were going to be out that we would have had to close the school anyway."

With the number of local participants in the march uncertain, other employers said they are not anticipating a disruption.

Pete Winton, assistant county manager for Lee County, said he isn't expecting a significant number of employees to be out today.

Sabra Cecil, vice president of human resources for the Bonita Bay Group, said it offered its 1,500 employees the option of attending the march and agreed to approve time off for all those who did.

Leonardo Garcia, executive director for the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said there aren't any figures on how much of the area's work force is made up of Hispanic employees.

More than 10,000 businesses in the five-county area are Hispanic-owned, though, he said.

"Hispanic workers are basically building Southwest Florida," he said. "Go to any construction site. You remove them and Southwest Florida would be paralyzed."

Staff writer Katherine Lewis contributed to this report.