EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Dozens of community advocates and leaders in El Paso took part in the nationwide Women’s March ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Jan. 20.
The El Paso People’s Rally, as it was also being called, was meant to advocate for an array of issues and for people to express their opposition to Trump’s promises of sweeping policy changes, organizers and participants said.
Locally, the march and rally took place in Downtown El Paso, culminating with speakers at San Jacinto Plaza.
“Today, we are coming together to exemplify our resistance to what lies ahead,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, told the crowd.
“Unfortunately in El Paso we know too well what the Trump administration is capable of,” Escobar said.
Escobar warned that the public-policy decisions of the incoming Trump administration could severely affect the El Paso community and urged people to be prepared.
“Everyone in this country has certain civil, human, and constitutional rights. And we have to know them, understand them, and make sure that we utilize them to protect ourselves and the people we care about,” Escobar said.
Several other community leaders also took the stage to touch on different topics, including Women’s health rights, immigrant and worker’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and voter rights to name a few.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said that El Paso will be ready for the changes to come but will also stand firm by its values.
“In El Paso we do things very differently than the new administration. And so we’re trying to make adjustments. We know that the (incoming) administration is going in a direction that is very different from us. I mean, we want our borders protected, everything that people misunderstand, but we also want to be dignified,” Samaniego said.
Samaniego recounted his time as county judge during Trump’s final year of his first term. He said that the promises Trump made during his presidential campaign didn’t all translate to action the first time around, and said it remains to be seen what will happen now.
People in attendance expressed their concerns ahead of the potential sweeping changes to come.
“I came out here today to show my support for those who are opposing policies of the Trump administration that we feel will be detrimental to our community, to our country, and to the whole world,” El Pasoan Charles Maddox said.
“So we’re letting people know that we are not giving up. We’re going to continue fighting. We’re going to continue engaging. We’re going to be active. We’re going to continue fighting for people’s rights. We’re going to continue registering voters,” saidEl Pasoan Diana Duron, a member of the Eastside Democratic Committee.
We have reached out to the local Republican Party for comment and will add that information to this story when we hear back.
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