Labor Day 2017: Immigrant, Women's March And Black Lives Matter Groups Plan Rallies Against Trump

This Labor Day will be an opportunity for immigrant groups to voice their opinions against President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Immigrant groups and allies have planned to carry out marches, rallies and protests across the country to mark Labor Day, emphasizing that they need to fight back policies made by Trump, the Associated Press reported.

After Women's March and Black Lives Matter rallies, this Labor Day rally will witness activists in major cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles taking part in Monday demonstrations. The rallies will start with morning neighborhood protests and lead to rush hour events downtown. An overnight vigil in Phoenix, a farm workers demonstration outside Miami and a rally outside the White House is also part of the plans by the groups, AP reported.

Read: Black Lives Matter Protesters Assaulted Homeless Man During Protest, Police Say

This year's May Day rally is going to see a surge in participation because Women's March participants, Black Lives Matter and Muslim civil rights groups who are united by their opposition to Trump's policies, will also join the demonstrations, reports said.

“You’ll see rallies, you’ll see marches, you’ll see strikes, you’ll see any number of events that at the end of the day are doing two things: either calling out Trump on his bigotry but also affirming the rights and the dignity of immigrants and refugees in this country,” said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change (CCC). It is a social justice organization whose work includes immigration reform. The group was a founding member of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, which is helping to coordinate at least 138 May Day events in 35 states, the Guardian reported.

The protests comes two days after Trump completes his first 100 days. He has pushed for immigration enforcement, including executive orders for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and a ban on travelers from six predominantly-Muslim countries. Thousands of immigrants illegally residing in the U.S. have been arrested.

The rallies will vary from place to place on this May Day. In Houston, people will wear red for a morning rally in the city. In Vancouver, Washington, there will be a rally and march after the work day ends. In Arkansas, there will be a rally in the state’s capital, Little Rock, and cultural events and rallies in two cities, Rogers and Portsmouth, which have higher immigrant populations than other parts of the state.

Mireya Reith, director of Arkansas United Community Coalition, is an organizer for the Arkansas demonstrations. She said that usually May Day protests have not been “a huge convener” in Arkansas, however, this year, the group is expecting more than normal turnout because of anti-Trump sentiments among people, reports said.

Los Angeles will reportedly witness around 100,000 protestors and New York could see up to 50,000 participants. Chicago organizers estimate at least 20,000. Pennsylvania will see student groups calling for strikes to demand a safe place for immigrants on campus, AP reported.