Immigrants Are Striking All Over the Country for May Day
People around the United States are expected to mark today, May Day, with an explosion of activism that hearkens back to the day’s radical roots—not simply as a celebration of labor politics, but in a massive show of solidarity for the immigrant communities threatened by President Trump’s administration.
“There’s a real galvanization of all the groups this year,” Fernanda Durand, who works with the immigrants rights group CASA in Action, told USA Today. “Our presence in this country is being questioned by Donald Trump. We are tired of being demonized and scapegoated. We’ve had enough.”
The group is expected to bring an estimated 10,000 protesters through the streets of Washington, D.C. today—one of dozens of similar marches planned across the country.
In San Francisco, workers are expected to join a massive march protesting for immigrants.
“All immigrants — whether we are from Mexico or (are) Muslims or Asian immigrants — we should be able to work freely and in peace,” 57-year-old Yolanda Barron Carmona, a legal permanent resident who works at a local hotel, told the San Francisco Gate.
“We shouldn’t be harassed by immigration.”
It’s a sentiment that has inspired workers and immigrant rights activists across the country, leading to what will likely be a record-setting march in Los Angeles. There, 100,000 people are expected to take to the streets in a May Day immigrants strike organized by a coalition of more than 100 groups, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
The march, dubbed “Resist. Los Angeles,” makes no secret about what is driving the movement.
“Donald Trump is using the full force of his authority to attack us. Muslims. Immigrants. Workers. Unions. Women. The LBGT community. Sanctuary cities. And anyone who dares to speak the truth to power,” the march’s organizers explain on their website. “We will respond and resist in the spirit of King and Milk. Huerta and Chavez.”
In New York City, a variety of marches and rallies are planned throughout the day, culminating at a rally in Manhattan’s Foley Square, where organizers promise participants will “hear from musical performers who represent the diverse communities of New York City and directly from people impacted by Trump’s bigoted and anti-worker policies.”
Monday’s rallies mark the second mass immigrants rights protest since the start of Donald Trump’s presidency. In February, a nationwide series of “Day Without Immigrants” strikes and marches saw businesses across the country shutter as immigrants and their allies took to the streets.