Several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday evening to decry the increasingly erratic and anti-democratic actions of President Donald Trump on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration.
The protest was held in conjunction with work and school walkouts across the country, including those staged at least two San Antonio high schools. Dubbed the “Free America Walkout,” the collective action was organized by the Women’s March, the nationwide group that’s staged massive street protests during the first Trump administration.
At least 100 students at William H. Taft High School on the far West Side left campus shortly after 1:30 p.m. as part of the national day of defiance. The students chanted “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA,” and held anti-ICE signs as they marched down the sidewalk along Culebra Road.
Student organizers said in a statement that the walkout was in response to the slaying of unarmed Minneapolis mother Renee Good and ongoing operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in that city. Students at Northside ISD’s Communication Arts High School also staged a walkout, according to organizers.
Before marching through San Antonio’s streets, speakers outside City Hall blasted the White House’s increasingly aggressive immigration crackdowns and disregard for international law. Protesters with signs reading “ICE is killing us,” “Chinga la Migra” and “Vote like your democracy depends on it” booed Trump’s name and cheered as organizers urged them to stand up for migrants and the working class.
Teacher Alejandra Lopez, who serves as president of the San Antonio Alliance school workers union, told the crowd that ICE raids are having a devastating effect on San Antonio ISD.
“Here in San Antonio, we’ve had parents of our students and members taken,” Lopez told the crowd. “In our district we are down 1,600 students. We believe many of them are members of families who are too scared to send their children to school for fear of ICE — or have made the devastating decision to leave their communities.”
Rally organizers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation urged demonstrators to keep taking their message to the streets. They likened the current uprising to similar fights for social and economic justice during the 1960s.
“We have to be very clear that the Democrats are not offering us a solution right now,” PSL member Cynthia Suarez said. “They’re telling us to wait until the midterms. They’re telling us that they’re going to reform ICE. We’re saying to this that our communities cannot wait until November. Our communities need action now.”
Photos by Sanford Nowlin and Michael Karlis.
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