About 2,500 demonstrators gathered across the park from City Hall Saturday to protest President Trump’s immigration policies, and about 25 Trump supporters were nearby to voice their concerns as well.
“I will not have my students afraid to come to school,” said a woman who gave her name as Yolanda and said she has been a teacher for more than 25 years. “I am child of immigrants. We are all immigrants.”
“As an educator, I have to teach my students on what the hell is going on,” she said while standing on a podium in front of City Hall among a multi- ethnic sea of people and signs that read “Braceros fed this County” and “Immigrant not by choice, but necessity. I have a dream.”
And on the outskirts at Spring and First streets, a man who gave his name as Arthur, dressed in a red hat that read “Make America Great” with about 25 others in support of Trump, said: “I am fed up with these wild parades. He’s (Trump) putting America first.”
Organizers of the anti-Trump rally included several labor and immigrant rights groups. A larger crowd was expected before Friday’s heavy rains carried over to Saturday morning, but clouds parted at midday and allowed for more accommodating weather.
—City News Service