Dozens of people assembled in Washington Square Park last night to express their anger and disgust with both the Supreme Court’s upholding of Trump’s Muslim Ban and the Senate’s passage of “Tax Scam” legislation. After more than an hour of speeches delivered before Ai Weiwei’s sculptural portrait of refugees, “Fences,” the crowd marched down Broadway to 26 Federal Plaza, and staged a die-in before the imposing, heavily guarded home of, among other things, Immigration Court and the New York City district field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The action was organized by the New York Immigration Coalition, MPower Change, and Strong Economy for All, and speakers included activist Linda Sarsour and City Council member Brad Lander. Several Trump supporters made an appearance at the rally, at one point attempting to disrupt the proceedings, but they were quickly neutralized by the crowd and had no real impact on the night.
The demonstration was many degrees smaller than the massive protests that greeted Trump’s initial executive order for the travel ban at the beginning of 2017. Several people in attendance speculated that the small turnout was the result of outrage exhaustion, while others thought that Monday’s Supreme Court ruling simply went unnoticed amid the constant stream of terrible news that’s become the norm.
The NYPD escorted the march downtown, on foot and on scooters, but it was easy duty for the officers as the protestors kept to the sidewalk and followed the script at 26 Federal Plaza. There were no arrests.