A group of about 100 demonstrators assembled in front of the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and Courthouse on Sunday afternoon to protest the incoming Trump administration and what activists called its “billionaire agenda.”
The event was held by the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s San Antonio chapter and a broad coalition of groups including Somos MAS, Palestinian Youth Movement, Domesticas Unidas and San Antonio Students for Peace.
The gathering was part of PSL’s national day of action called We Fight Back, taking place in cities throughout the country. As Chris Banks — one of PSL San Antonio’s organizers — stated in brief remarks, the national movement entails “70 demonstrations over today and tomorrow to inaugurate not Trump, but the people’s resistance.”
Various speakers touched on intersecting issues ranging from trans rights to abortion, environmental protections and the occupation of Gaza. Though the event was aimed squarely at Trump, Democrats landed in its crosshairs for failing to codify Roe v. Wade as well as funding and supplying of the war in Gaza.
However, particular emphasis was placed on mass deportations, which the Trump administration has promised to begin “on day one.” Texas also appears poised to be on the front line as a main point of entry for immigrants, and the potential staging ground for mass deportations.
“How many of us have seen our neighbors disappear overnight and torn from their lives, their children, their dreams?” Jessica Solis, one of the organizers of the event, said in her remarks.
Immigrant rights attorney Laura Flores-Dixon shared pragmatic “know your rights” tips for immigrants, including minimizing contact with police. If the Laken-Riley Act passes the Senate, which it has the Democratic votes to do, undocumented immigrants could be fast-tracked through the deportation process for crimes as minor as shoplifting.
Impassioned speakers denounced the United States’ legacy of conquest and imperialism while, across the street, tourists looked on quizzically from one of its enduring monuments, the Alamo.
After the rally on the federal building’s steps, the group marched down Presa Street to the Mexican consulate as a gesture of solidarity with our neighbors to the South. Along the route, the group clad in keffiyehs cycled through chants including “fund people’s needs, not the war machine.” If plans in the Trump administration’s Project 2025 come to fruition, the U.S. could see public programs gutted.
Though the multi-racial group touched on seemingly disparate topics — immigration, abortion, war, queer rights and the environment — all of these coalesce under the incoming regime, which promises a culture war on all fronts.
“What do you think terrifies the most powerful empire in the world?” said PSL organizer Jose Montoya. “PEOPLE!” the group shouted back.
