Wearing a black suit, a red tie and a gigantic papier-mache head that resembled President Donald Trump, a protester marched up to Syracuse’s City Hall and held a sign reading “Deport me!”

The protester’s outfit included a phone with the Twitter logo on it, a devil tail and a Nazi-style armband with “45” written on it.

A year after a massive protest at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in opposition of Trump’s controversial travel ban, more than 150 people marched down Montgomery Street on Monday afternoon. They chanted, “from Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!” and were met by honks of approval and cheers from passing drivers.

Community members on Monday gathered to protest Trump’s inflammatory remarks toward immigrants, the uncertainty surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the executive order, initially signed last year, that banned travel from several majority Muslim countries.

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The Workers’ Center of CNY organized the march, in collaboration with the CNY Solidarity Coalition, Black Lives Matter Syracuse and the Syracuse Peace Council.

Several churches and community groups also participated in the demonstration, including the Central New York Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition, Syracuse United Neighbors and the University United Methodist Church.

Yusuf Abdul-Qadir, director of the central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, also spoke at the rally in front of City Hall, where protesters gathered before marching south to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office near 401 S. Salina St.

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“This is a fight that isn’t just about a wall and understanding that people who are from Latin America or South America or Central America are welcome here,” Abdul-Qadir said. “This is about the fear that our country will no longer be dominated by white, male Christian people.”

Marginalized communities are being targeted through policy, and communities cannot be quiet and allow it to happen, he said. Abdul-Qadir told protesters to go to Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway and demand county police not cooperate with ICE officers.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has said he does not plan to change the city’s immigration enforcement policy, established by former Mayor Stephanie Miner. That policy does not require city police to arrest people based on immigration status. But Walsh has been hesitant to call Syracuse a “sanctuary city.”

Protesters held signs reading, “End deportation!” and “Refugees make America beautiful!” Organizers passed out signs to people who didn’t have them, and other demonstrators held “#shameonkatko” signs seen at past anti-Trump rallies, referencing Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus).

Several mothers brought their children, pushing them in strollers or carrying them at the hip. Older residents held protest signs, walking with canes and shouting, “No justice, no peace!”

“My family and my friends, they’re under attack, being criminalized simply because of something so trivial as legal status, which is not right,” march organizer Kayla Kelechian said. “No human is illegal.”

Kelechian’s comments were met with cheers and responses of “No human is illegal!”

Kelechian said she lives on Syracuse’s North Side, a section of the city with large immigrant and refugee communities. She said everybody in the crowd knew somebody who was not from the U.S. Kelechian added that she was grateful a crowd arrived to stand in solidarity with immigrants.

Brandon Daniels, a graduate student at Syracuse University and a member of the International Socialist Organization, said he attended the march to protest the expansion of ICE deportations under the Trump administration. He’s involved with the Workers’ Center.

“Across the country, the most heinous of crimes are happening where families are being torn apart due to this unjust deportation machine that both Democrats and Republicans have built,” Daniels said.

Published on January 29, 2018 at 11:14 pm

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001