Large crowd sends strong May Day message to Trump Administration

UPDATE 5/1/2017 4:30 p.m.:

Cities across the country and around the world are marking International Workers’ Day on this May Day.

Hundreds of people gathered at Cesar Chavez Park in Salinas on Monday. It was the largest event in our area, with both the United Farm Workers and Service Employees International Union taking part.

While May Day is about recognizing international workers, a lot of rally participants recognized some of the bigger immigration issues ahead of them.

“Here locally, it’s about immigrant rights,” said Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo. “Here you’re going to have a lot of people gathering but there’s a lot of fear, a lot of concerns about what’s happening at the national level against immigrants and I think we’re trying to send the message that we need to stand up and protect our families.”

People carried signs and banners expressing different messages like “Who will feed America?” and “Immigrants make America great” and “Keep ICE out of Monterey County.”

“Families need to stay together and ICE doesn’t have a right to separate them,” said Erica Bucio. “They’re here for a reason and I think that reason is to work hard and to bring our country a good economy.”

Assemblymember Anna Caballero addressed an energized crowd before they took their message to the streets. With Salinas police helping to close off roads and keep marchers safe, drivers stuck in traffic were mostly supportive, often honking and cheering. A lot of local businesses were either closed or were open half of the day, to allow workers to participate in the event.

“Without the workers here, there wouldn’t be the produce that we need to feed the country, so it’s just super important to be here,” one woman told us.

There wasn’t any major sign of opposition. Some say, people need to be more involved in the long haul, rather than just on May Day.

“More importantly, talk about what organizing and mobilizing we’re going to be doing in the days ahead,” Alejo said. “This isn’t about one day, this is about year-round organizing hopefully to make our laws more just for immigrant families.”

One of those protections is Senate Bill 54, which would make California a sanctuary state. That bill most recently passed in senate and was in the assembly.

ORIGINAL POST:

Hundreds of people are marking International Workers’ Day Monday at Cesar Chavez Park in Salinas.

It’s one of several rallies happenings on May 1, also known as May Day.

United Farm Workers is organizing rallies in Salinas and other cities in California and Washington state. They hope to show their resistance to President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.

In a news release, the organization said, “Farm workers who are undocumented or have family members without legal papers express genuine fear over Trump plans to target all undocumented immigrants for deportation. Still, on May 1 they are resisting threats from the new administration, for themselves and their communities.”

KION’s Mariana Hicks and Telemundo 23’s Stephanie Magallon are following today’s events and will have more this evening.