Protests in the Streets Across the Country Denounce Trump Regime’s DACA Decision

Updated September 11, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In response to the Trump/Pence fascist regime’s announcement that they were ending the DACA program, there were protests in the streets across the country. Among the protesters in different cities were many courageous “DREAMers,” young Latinos/Latinas who are in the DACA program and who face deportation—and being torn away from their families, friends, education, and jobs—if the Trump/Pence regime is able to carry through with ending DACA.

September 9 and 10:

Marches and rallies continued over the September 9-10 weekend in support of the DACA program and condemning Trump’s decision to end it.

Oakland, California

Thousands rallied in Oakland on Saturday, furious at the ending of DACA by the Trump/Pence regime. People held signs like “No ban, no raids, no wall.” After rallying they poured into the downtown chanting “Sanctuary for all” and “Stand Up, Fight Back!”

A16-year-old youth, credited with organizing the demonstration, said she convened the rally to “attack the decision [to end DACA] and attack the ignorance” about the decision. A young man told the crowd, “I’m the proud son of a Mexican immigrant, and with the repeal of DACA, it is horrifying to see Trump blame this country’s problems on immigrants.” And another youth whose father came from Mexico said this country chewed his dad up and spat him back out. A speaker representing Sikh and Punjabi immigrants from India told of the intense discrimination that immigrants face in this country.

Los Angeles

Thousands of people took to the streets and parks of Los Angeles Sunday afternoon to defend DACA and to oppose building a wall on the border. The march wound its way through the streets where immigrants live. People came out of their apartments to wave to and support those who were in the streets chanting “Immigrants are here to stay.” The march started after a short rally in MacArthur Park in the heart of the Latino immigrant community and then marched through neighborhoods to Echo Lake Park for another rally. The march then continued downtown to La Placita at Olivera Street for a final rally. The crowd was a microcosm of LA, with a lot of Latinos but also including people of all races and nationalities. There were families with children of all ages. Students from UCLA, USC, Loyola Marymount University, and Cal State University at Fullerton were identified as being in the house. Professors from UCLA marched to support their students. All sorts of political and community organizations were there, including a contingent from Refuse Fascism. The mood of the march was defiant, and people were saying that they are going to remain in the streets to stop any attempt of the Trump/Pence regime to deport any DACA recipients.

Boise, Idaho

Nearly 1,000 protesters turned out at the State Capitol Saturday against the Trump/Pence regime’s decision to end DACA. The headline of the Idaho Statesman read “Emotions run high at Boise DACA rally.” An organizer of the rally said, “A lot of my friends and family members are DACA recipients, we just can’t stay quiet.” She said about the large turnout, “This is a community coming through. We want to show our Dreamers that we care about them.”

Hicksville, Long Island, New York

Scores of demonstrators marched on Saturday against Trump’s decision to end the DACA program. They gathered at the Hicksville Long Island Railroad station and marched for a mile to Governor Cuomo’s regional office. The organizers estimated that there are 10,000 Dreamers living on Long Island. Some of the groups taking part were Long Island Jobs With Justice, the Long Island DREAM Act Coalition and Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates.

“I have a lot of friends who are undocumented,” said a woman from Romania who came to the U.S. at age four. “I can relate to the immigrant experience of parents relocating and migrating to provide a better life for their children.” A high school teacher who fled the U.S.-sponsored war in El Salvador when he was 15 held a sign saying “Education Not Deportation.” He said that Dreamers “are a part of my story.” And a young woman said, “I’m here for justice, equality and fairness. Everyone in this country deserves to be here.”

Petaluma, California

About 250 people rallied and marched on Sunday in this small community north of San Francisco to oppose the ending of DACA by the Trump/Pence regime. An organizer from Indivisible Petaluma said, “This administration has applied a systematic attack on immigrants, and we are not OK with that.” A young man who came from Guatemala when he was two carried a sign that read “We might not run the country but we sure as hell make it run.” Many of the protesters came to stand with their immigrant friends.

NYC: Thousands at “Rally for DACA and All 11 Million Immigrants”

Watch video HERE—September 9 protest in NYC.
Video by Video Elephant

On Saturday, September 9, in New York City, there was a large outpouring of immigrants and those defending the rights of immigrants. Initially called by Movimiento Cosecha, the “Rally for DACA and All 11 Million Immigrants” drew a very diverse crowd of several thousand people for a rally in front of the Trump International Hotel. As it grew, it turned into an impromptu march up Central Park West until police loudspeakers threatened people with arrest, and it then turned into Central Park for a rally/speak-out. Many spoke, including a representative of Refuse Fascism who powerfully drew the connection between this battle for DACA and immigrants and the overall urgency of driving out the Trump/Pence regime and pointed to the call for November 4—It Begins, which was warmly received.

Thursday, September 7:

Harvard University: Professors and Others Arrested and Hundreds Rally Against Trump’s Cancellation of DACA

From a reader:

Just a day after several hundred students and supporters had rallied on the Harvard University campus in support of DACA, over 30 people including a dozen professors from Harvard University as well as Babson College, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Tufts University, were arrested on Thursday, September 7 for forming a "human chain" blockading Massachusetts Avenue outside of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA at rush hour, in protest of the Trump/Pence regime's rescinding of the DACA program. Prior to their arrest, the blockaders were surrounded by 400-500 hundred students, staff and other supporters.

Before the action, hundreds rallied on the nearby Harvard campus and heard from a number of speakers, including Reverend Jonathan Walton, Minister of Harvard's Memorial Church, and Harvard history professors Walter Johnson and Kirsten Weld, all of whom were subsequently arrested.

Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams, Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, cited Charles Sumner (a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts prior to the Civil War and a leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts), quoting Sumners's response to the federal government’s support for slavery and the need for civil disobedience. Reverend Walton, harkening back to the civil rights movement declared, "They don't have enough jails to hold us all." Demonstrators chanted "Education, not deportation" and "Hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go."

The demonstration was saturated with the Refuse Fascism Call for November 4—It Begins and the broadsheet with the 7 Indictments of the Trump/Pence Regime, and students and others were signed up on the spot for the 4th.

Queens, New York: Hundreds Protest the Ending of DACA

Thursday, September 7. Tonight, some 250 people—Dreamers, immigrants, Latinos, and others— marched through Queens, a very diverse borough in New York City, condemning the Trump/Pence regime’s ending of DACA—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “Todos Somos DACA/We’re all DACA,” “Trump listen up, we’re going into struggle,” and “If we don’t get it—shut it down” were some of the chants. Protesters also sang “We are the immigrants, the mighty, mighty immigrants...” One sign read “You May Say I’m A Dreamer, But I’m Not the Only One.” Another—“I’m a teacher, not a criminal.”

The march was organized by the Jackson Heights, Queens chapter of the immigrant rights group Make the Road. A real effort had been made to bring forward immigrants—the documented and the undocumented—and the route went through neighborhoods with a high concentration of recent immigrants from Latin America, mainly Mexico.

A number of Dreamers on the march spoke of what a deep, terrible shock the ending of DACA was for them, throwing their whole lives and futures, and everything they’d hoped and worked for, up in the air. At the same time, those on the march felt it was urgent that they fight—“I’m not going back in the shadows”—against this outrage.

“Trump/Pence Must Go” was broadly welcomed in the march, and most took Refuse Fascism fliers announcing November 4. The word is spreading. Those at this march represent important sections of the people that must be mobilized and brought forward as part of the thousands, growing into many thousands and ultimately millions, who take to streets and public squares beginning on November 4.

Tuesday, September 5 and Wednesday, September 6

In Washington, DC, hundreds gathered outside the White House in the hours before Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, made the announcement. People chanted, sang, clanged cymbals and banged on drums, holding signs like “We want education, down with deportation.” When word came of Sessions’s announcement, there were shouts of “Shame!” People marched to the Department of Justice and then to Trump International Hotel for a sit-in.

In New York City, hundreds protested midday at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Several dozen people—including DACA recipients—sat down in the middle of 5th Avenue to block traffic and were arrested. A 30-year-old woman, originally from Mexico, who was among those arrested said, “Trump is trying to scare us into hiding, to get us to back down. We’re not going to back down.” Another protester, a young Latino, said, “We’re gonna have to be in the streets, daily, if that needs to happen. We’re gonna be here every day. You’re gonna hear from us.”

As of early evening, thousands were gathered at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, and the word was that people were going to march across Brooklyn Bridge.

In Los Angeles, Tuesday afternoon several thousand people rallied and marched in protest of the Trump/Pence regime ending the DACA program.  The crowd was very diverse with the largest section being young Latinos.   The rally started at La Plaza at Olivera Street in the old Mexican section of downtown.  The march went past Union Station, the ICE Detention Center, and through the streets around the downtown LA Civic Center before ending up at City Hall.  The marchers were spirited, angry, and defiant as they chanted all the way.  Passing cars on Alameda Street honked in support.  Refuse Fascism was in the mix with signs—“November 4 It Begins; NO! This Nightmare Must End!”  The Los Angeles Revolution Club was in the march selling Revolution newspapers.

In Denver, hundreds of high school students at multiple schools walked out of classes to protest the move shortly after the announcement. KUSA reported that many of them carried messages that read "Defend DACA" and "Our Dreams Can't Wait." Other DACA rallies in Colorado were planned for Colorado Springs, Boulder, Longmont and Glenwood Springs.

In San Francisco, 1,000 people protested in the plaza outside the federal building. According to the SF Chronicle, “The crowd spilled into the street outside the federal building, shutting traffic on Seventh Street between Mission and Market streets and shutting Mission Street between Seventh and Fifth streets.” Among those blocking the street was a group of clergy people. One speaker at the rally said, “I should be allowed to stay because I’m your friend, your sister, your daughter. Let’s show them they chose the wrong people to mess with.” Across the Bay, several hundred people rallied at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus and marched down Telegraph Ave.

In Chicago, “thousands of protesters took to the street,” according to local CBS News, gathering at the Federal Plaza in the Loop and marching through the downtown streets to the ICE offices and Trump Tower.

There were also protests in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Phoenix and in Miami.

In Los Angeles, marchers are gathering in various parts of the city.

Stay tuned for updates on the protests.

Denver, CO Twitter pic @SaysHummingbird

INSPIRING SUPPORT FOR DREAMERS! ✊

RT to show SUPPORT for Denver STUDENTS who have WALKED OUT of school to protest Trump #DACA announcement. pic.twitter.com/FOqoFk2fPy

— The Hummingbird (@SaysHummingbird) September 5, 2017

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