An Earth Day weekend march in New York City on April 19 was officially organized around the intersection of migration and climate issues, but many of the signs held up among the crowd reflected a diverse range of concerns around the current administration. “Protect Migrants, Protect the Planet” march participants carried signs pointed to attacks on higher education, LGBTQIA+ rights, abortion, immigrants, the working class, the environment, and the threats to democracy since President Donald Trump took office.

“ I think it is important that we all defend education in all of our universities,” said Liza, a protester at the march, who donned a T-shirt of her alma mater, Columbia University. Liza requested that her last name be omitted due to privacy concerns.

Many signs decried tech billionaire-turned-presidential adviser Elon Musk, as well as the tariffs and the price of eggs. Protesters told Prism that they had been inspired to come out due to the various anti-Trump protests in recent months.

 ”People are suffering, and I can’t just sit back,” said Sophia, who noted that the constant barrage of bad news alerts makes her feel angry, scared, and exhausted. Sophia also requested to withhold her last name. “This morning I saw something on the news about the administration canceling raw sewage cleanup in [Alabama] because it’s ‘DEI’—whatever that means.”

Climate Defenders, an activist group fighting against fossil fuels, organized the march under the notion that we’re facing two connected existential crises: Trump’s attack on migrants and climate chaos. “Climate is now the No. 1 cost of displacement around the world,” lead organizer Renata Pumarol told Prism. “For us, it’s really important to link those issues.”

John, who represented the  Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, hoped to provide a socialist perspective  to attendees who “oppose the drive to dictatorship by the Trump administration.” He added that he sees attacks on the climate and migrants as connected issues. “They all stem from the same fundamental cause, which is the subordination of everything in society to private profit.” John requested to use only his first name.

A major threat to migrants right now is local law enforcement collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even in areas marked as sanctuary cities. The organizers’ demands included getting ICE out of New York, stopping the targeting of immigrant communities, and releasing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.

“ We have a mayor right now that is throwing migrants under the bus,” said Pumarol, referencing New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is trying to re-establish an ICE office at Rikers Island, the city’s largest jail complex. Rikers Island has become notorious for an alarming number of inmate deaths, at least 38 since Adams took office in 2022.

Pumarol said the organizers’ strategy is to push democratic local officials and state officials to protect the community. 

“ We’re definitely hoping that this pressures our current New York City elected officials and that it impacts the mayoral election and the primaries,” Pumarol said. “If you’re gonna be elected to our city, [know] that it’s a migrant city and you’re gonna have to meet these demands.”

The New York City mayoral primary elections are on June 24, and the general election for mayor will be on Nov. 5.

March leaders didn’t just demand the release of Garcia, but also all of the international pro-Palestinian student protesters who had been detained to be deported, including Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk.Pumarol said the recent targeting of pro-Palestine protesters, other ICE kidnappings, and general anxiety over attending protests have been central in conversations around demonstration planning. 

“I think it’s a very challenging time to organize,” she said, noting the group invited ICEwatch, a project of the Immigrant Defense Project, to look out for protesters alongside the climate march’s own marshals. 

Discussions about ongoing censorship were common among the crowd. Saima Akhter, a former data scientist at Meta, said she was fired for worker organizing and protesting the tech giant’s censorship of Palestine. A December 2023 Human Rights Watch report found that Meta had been censoring pro-Palestinian voices, documenting “over 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of content on Instagram and Facebook that had been posted by Palestinians and their supporters, including about human rights abuses.”

Ahkter said she’s heard of more people in her network voicing concerns over coming out to protests due to recent crackdowns. 

“Self-censoring is so real right now,” Akhter said.

The warmer-than-average temperature during the march highlighted another protest goal: getting New York out of fossil fuels. The Climate Defenders want New York to commit to a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy and refrain from investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are by far the largest contributors to climate change, according to the United Nations.

The April 19 protest followed the nationwide “Hands Off” protests weeks prior, during which more than 1,400 demonstrations took place across the country. 50501, one of the organizers of the mass action, gave its endorsement to the “Protect Migrants, Protect the Planet” march. 

“It’s pretty exciting because we’ve been able to build a wide coalition of climate groups, migrant groups, and pro-democracy groups,” Pumarol said.

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Stephanie Harris, Copy Editor