Latest news with #FernandoGarcía
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
El Pasoan residents march to demand respect for border community's dignity and rights
Borderland residents continue to voice their repudiation of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies. The march brought together faith leaders, union representatives from the AFL-CIO and farm workers organizations to defend the dignity of the community amidst attacks from the Trump administration, which has sought to paint the border community as a chaotic place overrun by illegal immigration. The late morning sun beat down on a hundred or so marchers who joined the protest to reclaim dignity and rights of residents in the Borderland. Those who joined marched from the barrio of Chihuahuita near the Paso del Norte bridge to Parque San Jacinto. Over a hundred people came out Saturday, May 3, from across the El Pasoan community to reject the Trump administration's attacks on migrants, on health care and against workers. Protesters carried signs defending due process, migrant rights and the rights to education as a group of Matachines danced and other protesters carried giant marionetas. Saturday's march was organized by the El Paso-based Border Network for Human Rights. "We are all Americans, whether we are migrants or non-migrants," Fernando García, the executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said. "Today is the reaffirmation of our human rights, of our civil rights, and also for our dignity as a community at the border." The number of migrants crossing the southern border with Mexico are at the lowest levels in decades. More: Federal judge declines to block Trump's immigration enforcement in sacred places The march comes as the Trump administration has increased his attacks on immigrants, arbitrarily arresting migrants and deporting many without due process. The escalation has generated fear within immigrant communities, but the march is another way of breaking the fear, said Rosemary Rojas with the Border Agricultural Workers Project, who joined the march. "Right now and every day we have to make our voices heard, we have to be visible," Rojas said. "The dignity that has been stripped and the fear that has been injected is not justice." More: Mexico moves to outlaw foreign propaganda after US runs anti-migrant ad across border Saturday's march also raises concerns and rejects the cuts coming to the federal government. The Trump administration's gutting of federal government, including rolling back the Department of Education and the gutting of health and social services, is raising concern for El Paso's elected officials. "There is a lot of uncertainty right now with funding," El Paso City Rep. Josh Acevedo of District 2 said. "We don't realize that the federal government gives El Paso hundreds of millions of dollars. Public safety is going to be affected by losing money; our public health is going to be affected. We need to make sure that people know. We ring the alarm that this is happening because our quality of life is going to go down because of these cuts." Saturday's march comes as the Trump administration has increased the presence of the U.S. military into the El Paso community. The Pentagon extended a border military zone into the El Paso area Friday, May 2. The new militarized zone permits active duty military personnel to arrest migrants who illegally cross the southern border with Mexico. More: Congressional Democrats demand answers as Trump reverses revoking of student visas The marchers rejected this militarization and criminalization of the Borderland. "Our community has been subjected to massive militarization," García said. "Trump just extended the militarization to El Paso. This administration is treating us as criminals. We are members of this society. Both immigrant and non-immigrant are under attack, denying our basic due process, our access to education, and health care." Jeff Abbott covers the border for The El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@ @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @ on Bluesky. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Pasoans march to defend rights and dignity amidst militarization
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Border Network for Human Rights holds march, rally in Downtown El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Dozens of community organizations, faith leaders and advocates filled San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso for the 'Reclaiming Our Dignity and Rights: Community Mobilization' march on Saturday, May 3. According to the news release by the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR), the march 'marks the kickoff of the Second Journeys of Resistance, a statewide initiative to reclaim the dignity and rights of marginalized communities across Texas.' The Border Network for Human Rights organized the event. The organization bills itself as one of the leading human rights advocacy and immigration reform organizations in the country with over 7,000 members in West Texas and Southern New Mexico. 'At a time of growing militarization of border communities, expanding poverty, attacks on public education, health care, and housing, and the ongoing criminalization and dehumanization of immigrants, Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, disabled, and working-class communities, El Paso will rise to declare: We Are America,' BNHR said in a news release. The march began at the corner of Father Rham and El Paso Street and ended at San Jacinto Plaza with a rally, according to the BNHR. 'This mobilization is a public affirmation that, as border militarization expands under the false guise of security, and as families continue to be torn apart, our communities will stand united to proclaim a bold truth: We All Are America,' Fernando García, executive director of BNHR, said. According to the BNHR, the march is in collaboration with Border Workers United, Abara, Border Agricultural Workers Project, Texas Rising El Paso, La Mujer Obrera/Familias Unidas del Chamizal, Prince of Peace Christian Fellowship, Spirit of the Lord Ministries, El Paso Teachers Association, Central Labor Union of El Paso, SEIU, and Common Defense-Latine Veterans Caucus. 'We will lift up the histories that define us, name the injustices that continue to wound us, and reclaim the dignity and rights that belong to every member of our communities,' García said. We have reached out to the Republican Party of El Paso for a comment on this march and rally. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
