Thousands flooded downtown Dallas on Sunday to demand immigration reform and push back against the Trump administration. The “Immigration Reform Mega March,” as organizers dubbed it, stretched several city blocks and brought out a number of elected officials.
Winding from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe to City Hall, the mostly Latino crowd alternated chants of “say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” “education not deportation” and “we will vote.”“In every generation, there have been politicians who have tried to divide Americans and turn people against immigrants,” said Congressman Joaquin Castro outside Dallas City Hall. “But in every generation, there have been people like yourselves who have stood up and said no.”
Nine-year-old Karen Sanchez carried a sign reading “we should be free from deportations,” which she’d made the night before after hearing about the march on the news.
A Dallas police officer and a march organizer both estimated the turnout at 25,000 to 30,0000. Later, DPD tweeted that 3,200 people attended the rally, a figure reported by various media outlets. Organizers had said before the event that they had expected up to 100,000.
“The 2006 march and the movement around that is what turned Dallas County blue in 2008,” said state Representative Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, who also credited the march with launching more Latinos into office. “First we march, then we govern.”
Tere Ocampo, just shy of her 75th birthday and using a wheelchair, was one of many protesters who had attended the 2006 march. Eleven years later, she said she came out again because “Trump is trying to undo what we’ve spent so many years building.”
After a career in education, Ocampo now volunteers helping people prepare for the U.S. citizenship exam. Alongside her marched two younger Latina women, students in her class. One wore a hat reading “women against Trump” and said the election helped motivate her to get her American citizenship.
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Sunday’s march also highlighted a growing theme in immigration activism: the shared struggle of Latinos and Muslims.
“Things are not alright and things are not alt-right,” joked Omar Suleiman, a prominent Dallas imam and professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University, addressing the crowd. “When people in power try to impose a vision that some people are more entitled to this land than others, that’s not just a threat to Muslims or Latinos, it’s a threat to all Americans.”
Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who recently announced a Senate run against Ted Cruz, also took the stage to a warm reception.
“When people tell you we need to secure the border I want you to tell them about El Paso, Texas, the safest city in the United States, whose safety depends on treating everyone with dignity and respect,” said O’Rourke.
During the march, a counter-protest of three pro-Trump demonstrators heckled the crowd from an overpass. As they chanted “U.S.A., U.S.A,” the marchers responded with a much louder version of the same. There were no altercations and no arrests, according to the Dallas Police Department.
Recent activism in Dallas helped lay the groundwork for Sunday’s march. During the brief days when Trump’s Muslim ban was in effect, the Dallas-Fort Worth airport was the site of large protests. And in February, the Dallas County Commissioners Court passed a resolution declaring the county a “welcoming community” for all immigrants and refugees.
This article was originally published in The Texas Observer.
