Thousands rally for immigration rights at Dallas Mega March
Thousands rally for immigration rights at Dallas Mega March
April 9, 2017 6 hours ago
Thousands of people paraded through downtown Dallas to support immigrants' rights Sunday afternoon.
The turnout was far smaller but more diverse than the crowd that gathered 11 years ago at the first Mega March for immigration reform.
Protesters walked across downtown, from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe to City Hall Plaza. There, speakers addressed an audience police estimated at 3,200.
No arrests were reported.
Protesters were asked to bring American flags and wear red, white and blue "because this is really about America's values," said attorney Domingo Garcia, one of the event's organizers.
In 2006, an immigration rally downtown drew 350,000 to 500,000 marchers, according to some estimates. That year even the organizers were stunned by how many families attended.
Dallas ISD teacher Esseiny Alanis, a Mexican immigrant, stood with fourth-graders Sanjuanita Rodriguez and Maritza Monroy.
"Every child deserves a right to go to school without fear of losing a parent," Alanis said. "My children are the future of the world."
Ten-year-old Sanjuanita said she came because of her parents, who are Mexican immigrants.
"I'm here for the family, for rights and for justice," she said.
Marian Herrera of Dallas came to the march with several relatives, including her 87-year-old grandmother and her 5-year-old son, Aidan.
The boy came home from school one day and asked: "Mommy, will I have to go back to Mexico?"
He is American by birth. His mother is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico.
Aidan told Herrera he had heard in his pre-kindergarten class that people from Mexico had to leave.
"We're from here," Herrera said. "This is home."
She said she told Aidan the march was about loving everyone. Then she explained it to him in terms he could understand.
"Remember the Trolls movie?" she recalled tellng him. "No troll gets left behind."
Herrera's grandmother, Maria Galicia, is too old to walk on her own, but she insisted on going to the march.
A relative pushed her along Ross Avenue in a wheelchair as she smiled and waved an American flag.
Erica Wolff, 37, came from Irving to march with her 12-year-old daughter, Nailah Ounzar. Both are Muslim.
"As a child of immigrants, it's hard for us to travel," Nailah said. "We use to travel a lot -- Europe, China. But now my mom is worried."
The march was a milestone for Naureen Wajahat and Aparna Bejoy, who are friends and students at Coppell High School. It was their first protest.
Their parents moved to the U.S. from India. The girls oppose President Donald Trump's travel ban, but they're only 17 -- "too young to vote," Wajahat said.
Armed men have lined up outside her Irving mosque in recent years to protest her faith. But she said she felt better when she saw the other strangers who showed up -- the people who said they support Muslims.
On Sunday, Naureen and Aparna said they felt hopeful as they watched their fellow marcher.
"It really opened our eyes," Wajahat said.
Dallas police, some wearing protective vests, patrolled on bike, horse and foot. Police along the route posed for photos with participants and helped children walk across the DART tracks near Griffin Street and Pacific Avenue.
Observers from the American Civil Liberties Union were on hand to watch how officers handled the protesters.
Counter-demonstrators gathered near the end of the route with American and Trump flags blowing in the strong wind.
“We give them everything, more than we give our veterans,” Dallas resident Eddie Ellis said of immigrants. “They need to go back and solve their own problems.”
Dallas resident Dustin Marvin waved his Trump flag, which he usually keeps in his house.
"I used to be homeless and I had to help myself, and they have to help their own selves," Marvin said. "If they don't like Trump, they should leave."
The marchers wound their way through downtown before gathering about 3 p.m. in front of Dallas City Hall in red, white and blue shirts, caps and hijabs.
A band on stage played the "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the audience responded with chants of “U-S-A.”
Several community leaders and invited guests spoke at the Mega March, including human rights activist Martin Luther King III and Congressmen Joaquin Castro and Beto O'Rourke.
They pleaded for unity and respect for all immigrants and called on people to vote to support their cause.
"We come here today to march against a national agenda that would turn back the clock on our nation’s great tradition of values, particularly toward the poor, toward our children and especially today toward our immigrants, people who come to our shore seeking a better life," King said.
He encouraged people to march not only in protests but "to the ballot box."
O’Rourke, who plans to run against Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, said he wants legislators to focus on helping immigrants.
“Do you want to wait until 2020 to start working on immigration reform? Do you want to wait until 2020 for each of us to be treated equally?” he asked.
Castro, a Democratic U.S. House member from San Antonio, said his grandmother, who was born in Coahuila, Mexico, remembered seeing businesses in Texas with “No dogs or Mexicans allowed” signs.
“In every generation there has been an immigrant in this country who has been disrespected, who has been challenged and tried,” Castro said. “In every generation there have been politicians who have tried to divide Americans and turned them against each other, who have tried to turn the people against immigrants. ... But in every generation there have been ... people like yourself who have stood up and have said, 'No, that’s enough, we have to treat people with respect.' ”
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immi...owntown-dallas
MEGA BUST: Pro-Illegal Alien ‘Mega March 2017’ in Dallas a Mega Dud; Less Than One Pe
MEGA BUST: Pro-Illegal Alien ‘Mega March 2017’ in Dallas a Mega Dud; Less Than One Percent of 2006 March
Kristinn Taylor Apr 9th, 2017 4:30 pm
A pro-illegal alien march and rally held in Dallas on Sunday called Mega March 2017 drew several thousand attendees, way short of the 100,000 planned for by organizers. The turnout pales in comparison to the 2006 Mega March in Dallas that drew an estimated 500,000 and stretched many packed city blocks. In contrast the 2017 Mega March only thinly fills half the lanes of about six blocks as seen from aerial video by KXAS-TV.
UPDATE: Dallas Police released their march attendance estimate: about 3,200–less than one percent of the 500,000 who marched in 2006. “The #MegaMarch2017 is winding down. The crowd estimate was about 3,200 and there were no reported incidents or arrests.”
Dallas Police DeptVerified account
@DallasPD
The #MegaMarch2017 is winding down. The crowd estimate was about 3,200 and there were no reported incidents or arrests.
Aerial photos posted by the Dallas Police show the less than impressive turnout as compared to 2006.
Dallas Police DeptVerified account
@DallasPD
Be advised, the #MegaMarch2017 is about to begin. There will be road closures downtown. #MegaMarch
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_gsDPUMAAYhyM.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_gsDQV0AAP30I.jpg
Dallas Police DeptVerified account
@DallasPD
#MegaMarch2017 underway, end of march has left Ross/Pearl. #MegaMarch
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_nazQVYAA-xee.jpg
It appears the organizers compressed the march to half the width of the road in order to make the march appear better attended it actually is.
Here is a photo of the 2006 Mega March in Dallas from the same perspective of the church that shows a wall of people packing the street as far as the eye can see.
http://16004-presscdn-0-50.pagely.ne...ws-575x301.jpg
Image via Dallas Morning News Twitter post.
Organizers of the rally made their pro-illegal alien agenda clear in a tweet on Saturday promoting the march, “We demand that the aggressions against the #Undocumented and #Immigrant community stop. #Resistance #HereToStay #NoBanNoWall #HumanRights”
megamarch2017
@megamarch2017
We demand that the aggressions against the #Undocumented and #Immigrant community stop. #Resistance #HereToStay #NoBanNoWall #HumanRights
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C870UyxW0AAjG13.jpg
The Dallas Democratic Party also posted their support for unchecked illegal immigration with the use of the hashtag #NoBanNoWallNoRaids.
Dallas Democrats
@dallasdemocrats
We are out here with @JudgeClayJ at the #megamarch2017! #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_gvxdUMAAEWac.jpg
Curiously, the photo the Democrats displayed features Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins at the march giving a thumbs up to the camera. (So much for that oath to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, right, Your Honor?)
Judge Clay Jenkins
@JudgeClayJ
Currently at the The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where the #MegaMarch2017 is set to begin. #Family #Unity #Justice 🇺🇸
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_j3drVYAAgZH9.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_j3drVoAABcV_.jpg
The organizers have ensured that American flags are prominently displayed at the march, unlike the marches where illegals are free to show how they really feel and carry the flags from their home countries while burning American flags.
Brina PalenciaVerified account
@BrinaPalencia
Reminders for everyone marching today @megamarch2017 #megamarch2017 #dallasmegamarch2017 #wethepeoplemarch
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8-oBNrVwAEPQpe.jpg
Dallas Police DeptVerified account
@DallasPD
#MegaMarch2017 is now @CityOfDallas Plaza. Be advised of #traffic around City Hall. #MegaMarch
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_2OujUwAAquTP.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_2OujUwAEgdjy.jpg
A reporter posted side by side photos of the 2006 and 2017 Mega Marches.
Gillian Jones
@GillianNJones
Mega March 2006 vs. #MegaMarch2017 (Pic on right: @DallasPD) @FOX4
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_u7P3VoAAdqw3.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8_u8B0V0AACW3X.jpg
This Dallas reporter gave an honest apparaisal of the turnout.
(video within tweet)
Homa Bash ✔ @HomaBashNBC5
About half an hour until #Dallas #megamarch2017 starts -- a lot less people than the hundreds of thousands that came in 2006 @NBCDFW
11:27 AM - 9 Apr 2017
In case anyone was fooled by the enforced display of American flags, these protesters delivered the true message behind the Mega March
(video within tweet)
Homa Bash ✔ @HomaBashNBC5
"No borders, no one is illegal, no nations" #megamarch2017 #dallas
11:58 AM - 9 Apr 2017
A report by KTVT-TV put attendance as “several thousand.”
“Several thousand people marched through the streets of downtown Dallas Sunday for immigration reform.”
http://16004-presscdn-0-50.pagely.ne...allas-KTVT.jpg
KTVT posted a photo of the thinly attended march as it made its way through Dallas.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017...17-dallas-dud/
Dallas Mega March For Immigration Reform Attracts Thousands
April 9, 2017 3:34 PM
https://cbsdallas.files.wordpress.co...0&h=360&crop=1
Protesters march through downtown Dallas for immigration reform. (Chopper 11)
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Several thousand people marched through the streets of downtown Dallas Sunday for immigration reform.
https://cbsdallas.files.wordpress.co...pg?w=522&h=296
Immigration Reform Mega March in Dallas. (Chopper 11)
Known as Immigration Reform Mega March, people brought signs and waved American flags in what was a peaceful protest.
The Dallas Police Department estimated between 3,000 and 4,000 people marched through downtown. There were also no reported incidents or arrests.
The last Mega March in 2006 brought together about 500,000 people which was the largest civil rights march in Texas history.
Organizers of the march expected a crowd of about 100,000 people during final preparations last week.
The march started at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Ross Avenue at around 2:00 p.m.
Marchers stopped at Dallas City Hall where various activists, including Martin Luther King III, spoke to the crowd.
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/04/09/d...cts-thousands/
