Hundreds protest in S.F., at UC Berkeley
About 1,000 demonstrators streamed into the plaza outside the Federal Building in San Francisco’s South of Market district Tuesday evening to protest President Trump’s decision to phase out an executive order that had protected from deportation many young adults who were brought to the U.S. by their undocumented immigrant parents.
The protesters rallied outside the building at Seventh and Mission streets. Across the bay, about 200 demonstrators gathered in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza and marched down Telegraph Avenue.
The San Francisco crowd spilled into the street outside the Federal Building, shutting down traffic on Seventh Street between Mission and Market streets and shutting Mission Street between Seventh and Fifth. Speakers using a loudspeaker addressed the growing crowd from the back of a flatbed truck.
“I come from an immigrant family and I can’t imagine anyone in my family unwillingly being taken from where they were raised,” said Mikail Gundogdu, whose parents emigrated from Turkey.
“I should be allowed to stay because I’m your friend, your sister, your daughter,” said another speaker, who identified herself only as Akiko because of her immigration status. “Let’s show them they chose the wrong people to mess with.”
Shortly before 7 p.m., the dwindling crowd began marching slowly and peacefully to Civic Center Plaza, escorted by police.
Trump’s decision to wind down former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is “unfair, inhumane and immoral,” said Gala King, 40, of Oakland, who was wearing a sign at the San Francisco rally that read, “Sanctuary for All Immigrants.”
UC Berkeley sociology student Jenny Segura, 24, said the decision to make undocumented immigrants brought here as children vulnerable to deportation shows that “our country is going five steps backward.”
She said her Berkeley classes were “enhanced by having people from other countries and enriched by people benefiting from DACA.”
On the steps of Sproul Hall, demonstrators chanted, “No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all,” while scores of students walked by and some paused to listen. Through a bullhorn, a series of speakers denounced Trump’s decision.
“I have seen the sacrifices of immigrants (who) pay taxes and are loyal,” said Martha Zarate of Oakland, speaking through the bullhorn to the crowd. Zarate said her mother came to the U.S. from Guatemala.
“We call Oakland our home,” she said. “Now our new home will be somewhere we’ve never known and never even been before.”