Crowds Rally In Washington Square Park To Oppose Trump Executive Orders
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Crowds of people filled a New York City park to rally against President Donald Trump's executive orders on the building of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and another upcoming one expected to halt refugees and people from certain countries from coming to America.
Protesters chanted "Resist" and "No ban, no wall, this is our New York" as they stood in Washington Square Park on Wednesday night, listening to elected officials, advocates and other speakers. People carried signs saying "I stand with immigrant New York" and "Here to stay."
At one point, the crowd jammed around the glowing arch briefly chanted "Lock him up!"
Lynne Volk tells WCBS 880's Alex Silverman she's been walking the streets all day with a sign that reads "We were all immigrants once."
"It's been really amazing the outpour of just like, recognition," she said. "I've gotten a lot of smiles. I've had a lot of thumbs up."
PHOTOS: Protest Against Trump Immigration Policies In Washington Square Park
Cesar Vargas is an attorney who happens to be undocumented. He says "see you in court" to President Trump.
"I say we're in this together and an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us," he said. "We're going to demonstrate that New York stands up for everyone."
Aside with the executive order on the border wall, Trump signed another that would cut federal funding to "sanctuary cities" like New York that don't cooperate with federal immigration officials any more than is absolutely necessary.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the funding cuts would be severely damaging to New York City.
De Blasio said the loss of funds would cut the resources of the NYPD — including anti-terrorism funding — and damage relations between police officers and communities. He added that the city would not begin deporting law-abiding undocumented immigrants because of the order.
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