File photo.
A coalition of local social justice organizations will gather in downtown Long Beach Wednesday evening to protest the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and to stand in solidarity with undocumented youth.
The event is hosted in participation with May Day Long Beach, Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, Filipino Migrant Center, Greater Long Beach Community, CLUE: Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, as well as the Long Beach chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. It will take place at Harvey Milk Park, located at 195 East 3rd Street, at 6:30PM today, Wednesday, September 6.
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“As a community, we will show our support and stand in solidarity with DACAmented youth, their families and the thousands of others who are eligible for DACA and are undocumented,” stated organizers with Indivisible Connected Long Beach on Facebook.
The groups plan to demand that Congress pass the DREAM Act, which would provide a more accessible path to citizenship for undocumented residents who graduate from college or serve in the military, and call on the state Assembly to pass the California Values Act, a combination of Senate Bills 54 and 31 which, if adopted by the state legislature, would prohibit municipalities from participating in deportations or assisting federal agencies in making a case for deportations and would prohibit cooperation in establishing religious or ethnic registries.
The Long Beach City Council will also be called on to pass a local ordinance to make Long Beach a sanctuary city.
“Lastly, we are coming together not only in solidarity but to make it known to our state and local officials, that we can no longer wait for the federal and/or state to act,” read the Facebook post. “The Trump Administration has made it abundantly clear that this is no longer an option. This is why it’s imperative that City Council no longer wait for the #CAValuesAct to pass and pass a local sanctuary city ordinance as soon as possible.”
During a recent Twitter AMA (ask me anything), Garcia tweeted the council should consider taking up the “sanctuary city” issue as a local companion policy once the final vote on SB 54 on September 15 is known.