Immigrant groups and their allies have joined forces to carry out marches, rallies and protests in cities nationwide next week to mark May Day, saying there's renewed momentum to fight back against Trump administration policies.
Activists in major cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles expect tens of thousands of people to participate in Monday demonstrations, starting with morning neighbourhood protests and culminating in rush hour events downtown. Activists also plan an overnight vigil in Phoenix, a farm workers demonstration outside Miami and a White House rally. In Seattle, pro-immigrant events are expected to give way to rowdier, anti-capitalist marches led by protesters who said they plan to shut down a major freeway through the city.
Around the world, union members have traditionally marched on May 1 for workers' rights. In the US, the event became a rallying point for immigrants in 2006 when more than 1 million people marched against a proposed immigration enforcement bill.
While the current climate surrounding immigration may be similar to 2006 amid President Donald Trump's hard-line approach to the issue, the immigrant rights movement has changed dramatically since then.
In this April 24, 2017, photo Artemio Arreola, an organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, speaks to other advocates in downtown Chicago. The advocates plan to march in a May 1 rally in Chicago APAdvocacy groups that in 2006 were united in their determination to flood the streets to make a statement have fractured since then and pursued other efforts, such as voter registration, lobbying and fighting deportations.
However, activists expect a surge in participation this year, in part because immigrant rights groups have worked with Women's March participants, Black Lives Matter and Muslim civil rights groups who are united by their opposition to Donald Trump. Also, businesses with immigrant ties are closing or allowing employees to take the day off without penalty.
Immigrant groups acknowledged there is some fear among people in the country illegally who are skittish about drawing attention to themselves in visible marches. But organisers are reminding them that it's an important cause and there's safety in numbers.
As Trump approaches his first 100 days, he has aggressively pursued immigration enforcement, including executive orders for a wall along the US-Mexico border and a ban on travellers from six predominantly-Muslim countries. The government has arrested thousands of immigrants in the country illegally and threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, which limit cooperation between local and federal immigration authorities.
In response, leaders in sanctuary cities have vowed to fight back and civic participation has seen a boost, including February's "Day Without Immigrants." The travel ban and sanctuary order were temporarily halted by legal challenges.
