About 600 protesters marched through downtown Atlanta on Saturday morning as part of a national “Rage Against the Regime” day of action against the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “secret police” tactics.
The demonstration, organized by the progressive group 50501, began at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and proceeded down Auburn Avenue to Big Bethel AME Church, concluding at the Atlanta ICE Field Office.
Organizers handed out pamphlets listing demands, including an end to ICE’s use of masked agents and unmarked vehicles, halting deportations to third countries, and stopping attacks on birthright citizenship.
“Why are they ashamed?” asked Georgia NAACP president Gerald Griggs, who condemned ICE agents for wearing masks. “Everybody that wears a badge ain’t the law,” he said.
Griggs added that there are documented instances of US citizens and military veterans being detained. “It’s incumbent upon us, the real American citizens, to say something about it,” he said.
Griggs also called for solidarity between immigrant and minority communities. “Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are facing the same issues as our brown brothers and sisters from Central America and South America,” he said.
Several Democratic elected officials and political candidates joined the rally, along with Democratic Socialists of America members, such as Atlanta City Council District 2 candidate Kelsea Bond and state Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna). Speaking at the start of the march, Sanchez said, “Immigrants are a scapegoat for the wealthy elite to distract from the real issues.”
A Georgia senate candidate, Kate Denny, agreed. “This isn’t about criminals; it’s about power and control,” she said. “This is how regimes work. They want to make you afraid, because if you’re afraid, they can control you and take away your freedoms.” Denny is running for Georgia Senate District 10, which includes Decatur.