TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A couple hundred protesters met at Reid Park early Saturday afternoon.
Many were drawn to the demonstration by a poster on social media that had been reposted by activists and mutual aid groups around town.
For the demonstration's organizer, this was her first protest.
“I’m known for speaking up, and people should do that too,” said Organizer Diana Cortez. “I want people to know that we’re not by ourselves. No one is by themselves.”
As the daughter of an immigrant, she says the new administration's policies on immigration hit close to home.
“The government is just trying to target a specific group of people," she said. "I don’t see them coming after other nationalities. You’re coming to your neighbors, which is Mexico.”
That's why she created this protest, inspired by others around the country, to speak up for those who can't.
In just one week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, reported almost 7,000 arrests— an increase in the daily average of arrests from under the Biden administration— kicking off one of Trump's early campaign promises.
“We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places which they came,” President Donald Trump said on his Inauguration day.
One protester, Arian Chavez of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said that rhetoric is creating fear for those documented and undocumented.
“I’m fearful everyday that this type of violence will reach my family, reach my everyday life," he said. "And in some instances it has. That’s all the more reason to get organized.”
Like Cortez, he says their voices can protect the voiceless.
