Working Class Protesters in NYC to Democrats: ‘Be Tougher’
Demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s attack on migrant workers rally on the steps of the New York Public Library last Saturday, April 19. Photos/Joe Maniscalco
By Joe Maniscalco
We saw a lot homemade signs at this past weekend’s mass anti-Trump rally in New York City all reflecting the working class anger and disgust many have about the current administration’s existential threat to the United States.
Placards like “FCK These FCKN Fascists,” “Prison Without Due Process Is A Concentration Camp,” “Can We Finally Admit It’s A Constitutional Crisis,” and “Smells Like DOGE Shit,” perfectly encapsulated the sense of urgency prevalent amongst the tens of thousands who marched from the steps of the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue to Central Park on August 19.
What we did not see, however, amongst the sea of SOS signals were signs extolling the Democratic Party for doing such a heroic job of confronting Trump’s naked authoritarianism.
“Kidnapped by ICE”: Protesters carry placards showing the names and faces of those targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“All of our rights are threatened,” a New York City paralegal who didn’t want to be identified told Work-Bites. “And they’re abusing all of our systems and institutions. We need to put a stop to that. Nobody should be dragged off the street and taken to a jail outside of the country.”
She was referencing 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the SMART union apprentice who was seized by ICE agents on March 12 in Maryland and sent to the infamous CECOT black hole prison site in El Salvador even though an immigration judge had already ruled back in 2019 that he could not be deported.
“Some individual members [of the Democratic Party] are fighting back, but I think as a whole they need to all get together and have a strategy,” the distraught paralegal added.
Many demonstrators carried signs with Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s photograph, as well as the photograph of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University grad student and lawful permanent U.S. resident who the Trump administration has locked up in Louisiana and is actively trying to deport in retaliation for his activism against the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of anti-Trump protesters filled the streets of New York City on April 19—just a couple of weeks after a similar street action took place on April 5.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador last week and met with Abrego Garcia in detention. The act has earned Van Hollen praise from many Trump opponents. But at Saturday’s “Hands Off Immigration” rally in NYC it was clear that people expect a helluva lot more out of the Democratic Party.
“Mahmoud Khalil and Kilmar Abrego Garcia have both been imprisoned without charge which means it could be any of us,” a carpenter and artist who identified himself as “Will” told Work-Bites. “It’s a really pressing issue. If they’re not free, none of us are free. The Democratic National Committee [DNC] as an organization is pretty spineless. I think they could be doing more to cooperate with unions to help them flex their muscle to demand more from the administration.”
Signs of the times: Tens of thousands of protesters in New York City urge opposition to the Trump administration, while similar protests occurred in more than 1,200 locations across the U.S. on April 19.
Earlier this month, Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Union [NABTU], demanded Abrego Garcia be returned home to his family.
Christie Bedder, a marketing consultant living in Connecticut with husband Edward attended the April 19 mass demonstration with their daughter who lives in Brooklyn.
“I think the right has gone so far right there are no rules,” she told Work-Bites. “I think maybe the Democrats are still trying to work within the rules. But as Don Jr. said, ‘Gloves off.’ [The Democrats] need to adjust to that. They’re playing old politics. I think they are trying to process and become something different.”
Edward Bedder, however, said that Democrats are definitely not doing enough to combat Trump “across the board.”
Saturday’s massive anti-Trump demonstration moves along Madison Avenue near Trump Tower in NYC.
“They need to all drop what they’re doing and stand up,” he told Work-Bites. “There are a couple who are working their influence, but for most of them it’s gone a little too quiet for too long.”
A member of the New York State Nurses Association working at NY Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Upper Manhattan who also did not want to be identified told Work-Bites that ICE agents are making life hard for migrant workers in his community.
“I’m doing work at one of the food distribution spots and there’s been more and more migrants coming in needing food and needing help…needing healthcare as well—and not getting it,” the 16-year nursing veteran said.
Work-Bites asked West New York florist Prudence Rodriguez if Democrats were doing enough to fight the Trump-directed deportations and other subversions of American law and democracy.
“No, not at all,” she said. “I feel like we’re always trying to be on the side of being right and nice, and not speaking up. Not that we have to be like the opposing side—just be tougher. We need to be tougher and show that we’re not afraid to play dirty, too.”