Protests nationwide denounce Trump on immigration
By Ben Nuckols
WASHINGTON — Protesters gathered Saturday to support immigrant rights at rallies around the U.S., denouncing President-elect Donald Trump for his antiimmigrant rhetoric and his pledges to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and to crack down on Muslims entering the country.
A standing-room-only crowd packed into a historic African American church in downtown Washington for one of dozens of rallies around the nation.
“We are not going to allow Donald Trump to bury the Statue of Liberty,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, told participants. “We are a nation for all people, regardless of religion, regardless of background, regardless of who you love.”
In Chicago, more than 1,000 people poured into a teachers’ union hall to support immigrant rights and implore each other to fight for those rights against what they fear will be a hostile Trump administration.
Ron Taylor, executive director of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, told the audience there, “Regardless of what happens in the coming days we know that good will conquer evil and we want to say to each and every one of you, you are not alone.”
The protests mark the latest chapter in a movement that has evolved since 2006, when more than a million people took to the streets to protest a Republican-backed immigration bill that would have made it a crime to be in the country illegally.
The crowds this weekend at rallies or cultural events in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose and elsewhere were expected to be nowhere near as big as then. Yet the line to enter Metropolitan AME Church in Washington stretched nearly a city block. People attending included immigrants who lack permission to be in the country and their relatives and supporters. Also present were elected officials and clergy.
Participants carried signs with messages including “Resist Trump’s Hate” and “Tu, Yo, Todos Somos America,” which translates to “You, me, we all are America.”
“I stand here because I have nothing to apologize for,” said Max Kim, 19, who was brought to the U.S. from South Korea when he was 6 and lacks legal permission to stay in the country.
Saturday’s events took place as thousands were expected at a “We Shall Not Be Moved” rally in Washington ahead of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.