PROTESTS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Labor unions and civil rights groups staged May Day rallies in several U.S. cities on Monday to denounce President Donald Trump’s get-tough policy on immigration, a crackdown they said preys on vulnerable workers in some of America’s lowest-paying jobs.
Protests and marches challenging Trump’s efforts at stepping up the deportation of illegal immigrants drew crowds by the thousands to the streets of New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with smaller gatherings popping up across the country.
A broad coalition of groups behind the events also took aim at various other Trump policies they saw as discriminatory or xenophobic, including his bid, so far blocked by the courts, to ban travelers from several Muslim countries and temporarily turn away all refugees.
But the primary impetus cited by civil liberties and labor activists was Trump’s strict new immigration enforcement policy – falling most heavily on undocumented workers who toil in low-paying, non-unionized sectors such as fast-food, hospitality, child care and agriculture.”
-Chris Francescani and Alex Dobuzinskis, “May Day rallies across U.S. target Trump immigration policy,” Reuters, May 2, 2017 1:08am