Foreman, a member of Action NC, was among hundreds of working class Charlotteans who marched May 3 along Central Avenue to protest the federal government’s handling of immigration and anti-labor policy. Since his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has governed by executive order, signing off on presidential edicts that have targeted immigrants – including those who are in the country legally – with deportation. He’s also unilaterally moved to fire thousands of federal workers and impose taxes on goods manufactured in every country except for Russia and North Korea – traditionally political and military rivals of the United States.
“This administration is out of control,” Foreman said at the May Day March sponsored by a coalition of activist groups. “My fellow Dominicans are under attack. We came to the land of the American Dream, and all we are experiencing are nightmares. We and other immigrants build and maintain this country. Without immigration, there is no America.”
Maryann Ruiz contended that immigrants undergird the nation’s economy by working in critical industries like service, and agriculture. It’s no different in Charlotte, she insists.
“Since the ‘80s, Charlotte has relied on immigrant labor to build what we know as the Queen City today.,” said Ruiz, a member of Carolina Migrant Network. “Immigrant families are under attack by Trump and the oligarchy who chose to blame immigrant, refugee, and working community members, all while continuing to make it harder to afford to live. Immigrants, refugees, and workers won’t put up with attacks on our people.”
Sangria Noble of the NC Poor People’s Campaign said federal policy initiated by Trump will put more stress on lower-income people through higher prices and rollbacks of entitlement programs that eased poverty, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic under former President Joe Biden.
“Studies show that over 800 people a day die of poverty, with poverty being the fourth leading cause of death,” she said. “We, the poor and low wage, demand moral policies as poverty is a policy choice. We refuse the cynicism of systemic racism, systemic poverty, environmental devastation, denial of health care, the war economy, and the distorted immoral vision of religious nationalism. We demand a moral budget. Somebody’s hurting our people, it’s gone on for way too long, and we won’t be silent anymore.”
Dana Al-Hasan of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, lashed out at the erosion of civil rights and rule of law under Trump. Immigrants – even those who are in the U.S. illegally – are guaranteed the constitution to a hearing and representation. Under Trump, federal agencies have denied that right in deporting them and ordered the rollback of civil rights divisions at cabinet-level departments.
“Trump is trying to destroy our rights on all fronts,” Al-Hasan said. “He is conducting mass layoffs of public sector workers and gutting every program that serves the common good or helps working people survive. He is trampling on civil liberties like due process and free speech through his war on immigrants and crackdown on students who oppose the genocide in Gaza. We need to understand that these attacks and more are all part of a single project to expand the wealth and power of the billionaire class at the expense of working people.”
