Laura Glesby Photos
Protesters declare support for trans, immigrant, Palestinian rights and more on the Green...
...and outside City Hall, on Trump Inauguration Day.
A Statue of Liberty drawn on fire, free toiletries for any who needed, and collective shouts of immigrant, transgender, and Palestinian resistance rang through the frigid cold at two parallel protests downtown.
Their message resounded on Monday afternoon as Donald Trump once again took an oath of office — with a flurry of executive orders cracking down on immigration and cementing anti-trans policies awaiting his signature.
About 75 people clustered at the center of the New Haven Green at a rally organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and a host of other organizations, from Trans Haven to the Semilla Collective to Unhoused Activist Community Team (U‑ACT).
Meanwhile, another 40 people affiliated with Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) convened across the street on the steps of City Hall.
Chris Garaffa calls for funding schools over wars.
While the former protest shined a particular spotlight on Palestinian self-determination and the latter focused especially on the rights of undocumented immigrants, activists at both gatherings stressed a need to collaborate and stand against injustices they view as all interconnected.
“We need to step out of our silos,” said Sun Queen, a poet and activist with Black Lives Matter New Haven and U‑ACT, on the Green.
Sun Queen quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in honor of the national holiday also on Monday designated for remembering King’s legacy: “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”
At that rally, protesters made clear that while they were gathered to oppose Trump, they were not there to mourn the status quo under Joe Biden — especially when it came to the United States’ relationship to Israel.
“Trump, he’s just as much a warmonger as the rest of them,” said Chris Garaffa. “While they’re cutting our social services, while they’re cutting our schools … They’re also funding the IDF.”
They called for more than just the long-awaited ceasefire that began this weekend in Gaza, advocating for an end to Israel and for Palestinian sovereignty “from the river to the sea.”
Amidst these calls, the protest expressed solidarity with some of the people most targeted by the Trump campaign this election cycle: trans people and undocumented immigrants.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho! Transphobia has got to go!” the group chanted. “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Deportations have got to go!”
A table run by the Mutual Aid coordinator CT Grapevine offered free supplies, from Q‑tips to condoms, for anyone who needed.
Art in resistance outside City Hall...
...in protest of a president who's focused on "migrant crime," now with a felony conviction of his own.
At the same time, across the street outside of City Hall, ULA filled the steps of City Hall with a striking collection of protest art.
One banner featured a humanized version of the Statue of Liberty, surrounded by a halo of either feathers or flames, carrying the sign “Resist the Trump Agenda” instead of her typical torch. Another depicted someone about to smash a wall, conjuring the one Trump has vowed to build at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2015. Others bore statements: Ni una más deportación. No one is illegal on stolen land. New Haven means sanctuary.
Between speeches from fellow activists, ULA founder John Lugo announced that the organization is preparing a network of neighborhood-based volunteers throughout New Haven and beyond to respond to potential deportation efforts under a Trump administration.
ULA has established a 24-hour hotline — at 475 – 333-9413 — to rally those volunteers for anyone experiencing or witnessing immigration enforcement in the local area.
John Lugo: "Who cleaned the snow today all around the state?"
Lugo said after the protest that while he does not believe Trump will succeed in deporting as many people as he’s promised, “He’s going to cause a lot of damage. He’s going to cause a lot of division, he’s gonna separate a lot of families.”
“Who picked the fruit in this country?” he continued. “Who cleaned the offices? Who cleaned City Hall? Who cleaned the snow today all around the state? It’s the immigrant community.”
Meanwhile, three hundred miles away, Trump grabbed a pen and set to work.
Read more about the executive orders he signed here.