Thousands of people took to the streets across the nation Monday to march in May Day rallies, calling for immigration reform, workers' rights and police accountability.
Galvanized by President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, diverse crowds of demonstrators held peaceful rallies in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and Miami.
In Atlanta, about 200 rallied under gloomy skies holding "ICE Get Out" banners and "Not One More Deportation" placards to protest recent arrests and deportations of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and to call on Atlanta officials to extend more protections to immigrants.
Not long after Aline Mello, a 28-year-old Brazilian immigrant, arrived at Atlanta's City Hall for Monday's May Day rally for immigrants, she texted her mom a photo of herself, huddling under a pink umbrella and holding a sign saying, "We are Humans."
"She didn't want me to come," she said of her mother, who was at work cleaning houses. "She's scared. Many older immigrants just keep their heads down, but we want to make our voices heard."
Mello is a so-called Dreamer who received protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
"We grew up here," said her friend, Diana Chavez, an immigrant from Mexico who moved to the U.S. in 2000. "We belong here. It's important to let people know we're part of this nation and we work hard and pay taxes."
Like many, Mello and Chavez were motivated to protest Trump's harsh immigration policies.
"I wasn't that vocal until Trump started campaigning," Mello, who works as a magazine editor, said. "We can't trust him."
Outside City Hall, immigrant advocates linked up with a wide range of social justice groups fighting to raise the minimum wage, combat racism and sexism and protect LGBTQ communities.
"We want Atlanta to be a real sanctuary city, not just a welcoming city," Carlos Medina, a volunteer with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, told the crowd. "We want a fair salary: $15. We want the people to respect gender identity. And we want them to stop the deportations."
After the rally, more than a hundred immigration and social justice advocates spilled into Atlanta's City Council chamber to demand the city raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and demand that the city comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain immigrants only when there is a warrant.
"This is the most speakers we've ever had," City Council President Caesar Mitchell told the crowd, to cheering.
Immigrant rights groups and labor unions organized multiple rallies across New York City, culminating Monday evening at Foley Square in what organizers said would be the city's biggest planned rally for May Day.
Many participants this year noted that the collegial and festive atmosphere has also been overshadowed by the grim reality that Trump's policies are hurting thousands of workers and immigrants.
Michael Bellamy, a resident in New York City, was demonstrating in Union Square on Monday afternoon and said that hundreds of people had arrived early. "People are happy and there's a cultural show happening with music nearby," he said.
Bellamy added that he also hopes to raise awareness not only about how Trump's policies are hurting workers' rights but also about how U.S. policies in the past have exploited workers.
"We are showing how U.S. policies throughout history have created refugees and hurt people and we want to celebrate those who work," he said.
Earlier Monday, about 500 people rallied outside of Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Manhattan. Twelve people were arrested for civil disobedience, according to Jose Lopez of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road, after protesters blocked the entrance to JPMorgan Chase & Co for around 10 minutes.
"We wanted to identify and name a number of corporate players who stand to profit from Trump's agenda and immigration detention," Lopez said. "On Monday, we hit the streets and went after the first corporate target on the list."
People in other parts of the world, including those in Bangladesh, Greece and Barcelona, Spain, also marked May Day. In France and Turkey, video posted on social media shows unrest unfolding after police and protesters clashed.
In Chicago, Jorge Mujica, an organizer at Arise Chicago, said hundreds of people had gathered a few hours early in anticipation of the march from Union Park to Daley Plaza. As busloads of people from around the city began arriving, Mujica said he anticipates that as many as 50,000 people will show up. This year's May Day, he said, feels different from previous years.
"Before we were not successful in pulling in other communities to join us," Mujica said. "But Trump has united us. We have people from the LGBTQ community, African-Americans, science community and women's rights groups with us today."
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