Richmond youths are planning to march down 23rd Street in Richmond Sunday afternoon in solidarity with the city’s undocumented residents, many of whom are on edge after a week that saw Pres. Trump-ordered immigration raids in numerous cities nationwide.
Since his inauguration last week, Trump has issued a torrent of executive orders aiming to remake the nation’s immigration policy, including suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program, cutting federal funding from “sanctuary” cities and challenging birthright citizenship, though many of the directives face legal challenges. Arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have already ramped up significantly, and Trump’s suggestion that tens of thousands of migrants could be detained in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has sparked anxieties among many migrants.
Various social media posts, one of which tagged the John F. Kennedy High School student body leadership, called for supporters to gather at Richmond High School at 12:30 p.m. to march down 23rd Street. The march will go to the Taco Bell at the corner of Barrett Avenue before looping around and returning to the starting point.
Both high schools have large Latino student populations. Kennedy High has a student population that is 75% Latino, 16% Black, 4% Asian and less than 2% other ethnicities. Richmond High’s student population is 89% Latino, 4% Black, and 2% or less of other ethnicities, according to West Contra Costa Unified School District statistics.
“With ICE on the sprawl our community is scared and needs someone to stand up for them,” the social media post reads. “Our government wants to toss away years of hard work and progress we as a country have fought for. We all have a cause and right now times are difficult, our community needs you!”
According to a flyer for the event, participants will march on both sides of 23rd Street as a safety precaution. The 23rd Street corridor represents the heart of Richmond and San Pablo’s immigrant business community, many of them Latino-owned.
Ivonne Hernandez, a student at UC Berkeley and one of the event’s organizers, told Richmondside that students from both high schools and Richmond residents who attend local universities began brainstorming for the event on Monday.
“It was something we thought should happen fairly quickly with all the raids and the number of deportations going up (since Trump’s inauguration),” Hernandez said.
Hernandez, a Richmond resident and graduate of Kennedy High, said that organizers, such as herself, come from families who migrated to the United States in hopes of a better life for future generations.
Those who have the privilege of legal status, she said, want to show Richmond’s undocumented community that they stand by them.
“It is our duty as the new generation to advocate for justice,” she said. “The peaceful march is organized to show that immigrants are not a danger to America but are what make America great. We want our immigrant community to know we stand by them and that they can count on us to advocate on their behalf, protect and support them.”
In recent years, Richmond has taken several steps to support its immigrant population: It moved away from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has deemphasized policing practices targeting the undocumented community.
For example, the Richmond Police Department stopped prioritizing driver’s license checkpoints in 2009, and the city began blocking contracts with companies that provide data to federal immigration authorities in 2018.
Last weekend Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez issued a statement outlining how the city supports its residents, stating:
“The City of Richmond stands firmly with our immigrant community and remains steadfast in our commitment to being a sanctuary city. In light of recent threats from the federal administration regarding mass deportations, we want to assure our community that Richmond will not waver in its values of inclusion, diversity, and respect for all residents.
“Richmond has long been shaped by the hard work and dedication of immigrants, and we take pride in the diverse contributions of individuals and families from all walks of life. Our policies reflect our belief that all residents, regardless of immigration status, deserve to feel safe and supported in their community. We echo the recent statement from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and twelve other state attorneys general, which reaffirms that state and local law enforcement cannot be commandeered for federal immigration enforcement.”
The Richmond City Council earlier this week directed the city’s attorney to look into ways that the city could strengthen its sanctuary city ordinance.
This also isn’t the first time Richmond students have organized a protest against Trump.
The day after Trump won his first presidency in 2016, hundreds of Richmond High School students held a lunchtime walk out, traveling down 23rd Street and ending with a demonstration att Richmond City Hall. A group of about 200 students gathered there in a circle and listened as students took turns sharing reactions to Trump’s election.
The protest in 2016 was part of a broader action of East Bay high schools that included El Cerrito High School, Berkeley High School and Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd.
And earlier this week, about 200 protesters held a similar event at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza.
Berkeleyside reporter Vanessa Arredondo contributed to this report.
