Around 30 people gathered on Central Park South and 59th St. to protest the Trump administration’s actions against the thousands of asylum seekers at the border. Trump demanded $5 billion from Speaker designee Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer last week to build a wall around the border. Since they didn’t oblige, and among other reasons, the government partially shut down and will not have a deal until after Christmas.
The demonstrators noted that asylum is a legal right and immigrants are entitled to stay in the country while they go through the application process. President Trump does not, however, agree and made a deal with the Mexican president-elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to keep asylum seekers at the border in Mexico until their individual claims are approved. The deal goes against the long standing asylum rules.
An organization called Rise and Resist called for people to walk with them to the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, where they rallied and held up signs and pictures (some of which were provided by Rise and Resist) protesting how the caravans of migrants are being treated. The event organizer and other demonstrators were then told to disperse by police. Watch a video of the exchange here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCWTcw17uKE
Police claimed the protesters were blocking the sidewalk. It’s important to keep that in mind because this happened only two days before Christmas in one of the busiest parts of New York City, regardless of the holiday. Walking in that area and a few blocks south this time of year is like trying to move a glacier.
The crowd of 30 was full throated in their support of asylum seekers. Among them were also two Trump supporters. They tried baiting protesters, but were mostly ignored. Here’s a sample of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6jCtO8uozk
At least two people in the demonstration know immigrants. One man’s parents are Cuban and said one of his closest friends is an immigrant and knows several others. He was inspired to attend the rally after going to a Rise and Resist meeting last week.
Several people on the street stopped to take pictures and videos of the protesters, who were met with people thanking them for coming out. They also, however, got a few hecklers along the way. A couple people said “boo hoo” when referring to the migrants and their children at the border. One lady on the street said “Hooray Trump” and laughed as she walked away.
One of the counter protesters asked demonstrators questions while recording them and made counter points about the immigration situation and its history. The man holding his cell phone said President Obama deported many immigrants, which is true. In fact, he’s deported more than any other president in U.S. history at around 2.5 million people between 2009-2015. Fact checking site Snopes.com claims that’s only the case because the definition of deportation changed under the Obama administration.
