tags: , , Blog

“No Papers, No Fear”: Immigrants And Allies In More Than 70 Locations Declare They Are #HereToStay

by Gabe Ortiz on

Share This:

Advocates led by Center for Community Change Action/FIRM, SEIU, and United We Dream rallied in over 70 events this past weekend in defense of the nation’s immigrants and against Donald Trump’s plans for deportations, criminalization, and hate.

Held exactly one week before another unified demonstration against the incoming administration — the National Women’s March in DC — advocates used the Day of Action to defend immigrant protections like DACA and to build momentum for sanctuaries of safety in cities, schools, churches, and states.

CASA organized the flagship event in DC, where nearly 2,000 advocates packed the Metropolitan AME Church, with some trekking as far away as New York and North Carolina for a seat. Inside, immigrants and their advocates shared powerful testimonies and vowed to stand for their families and not back down to fear.

“At an early age my mother realized that I was queer,” said Javier Cifuentes, an activist with the Human Rights Campaign who came to the US as a young child. 

“Fearing for my safety and knowing that the opportunities that I would have here would be less limited by my identity than they would be at home, my mother gave up her own dreams so I could live an authentic live.”