New Presidency, New Protest

The amount of protests in the United States has increased and have focused more on President Trump, who has already signed over 11 executive orders in just over a month of his presidency.

Even right before his inauguration, protesters across the U.S. filled cities’ streets in anti-Trump campaigns. The Women’s Day March was to promote the equality and acceptance of females and multiple minority groups. It turned out to be the second largest protest in D.C. with almost half a million people, not including other cities (the national total was approximately 3.3 million).

After Trump signed the Immigration Ban executive order, thousands of people protested in various cities and airports where immigrants wouldn’t be allowed to enter the U.S. So far many have been deported by the I.C.E. force despite having lived here for years or with no criminal record. Protests continued with the A Day Without Immigrants a few weeks ago, when immigrants and supporters demonstrated by not going to work. It caught a lot of attention, but ironically, hundreds were fired from their jobs for participating.

The “Not My President Day” protest commenced on the following Monday in several cities across the United States. Their purpose was to emphasize the fact that there is still a considerable amount of people who oppose the Trump Administration’s policies. CNN reporter Eric Levenson includes the observation of David Meyer in his article about this recent protest. Meyer says that lots of protests during a new presidency isn’t new; however, the sociology professor of University of California hasn’t seen protests as quick and numerous as these.

The revision of the executive order came to a close Monday the 6th and will try to reduce the chaos since the original order. The Trump Administration’s goal was to be more specific on who is caught. For example, those with visas will be allowed to enter and those with green cards won’t be affected; however, only 50,000 immigrants will be allowed in per year. The order will take effect March 16 and hopefully won’t enforce more arrests of those who cause no disruptions.

The most recent protest was on National Women’s Day, March 8th, called “A Day Without a Woman”, where supporters will go on strike, march, or wear red to promote the equality of women’s rights.

A future protest will take place on April 15, called the Tax Day March, or Trump’s Tax Day. Their purpose will be to pressure Trump to release his tax returns, which presidents are usually more reluctant to drop.