Congressman Juan Vargas did not mince words when Donald Trump paid a visit to his district to inspect border wall prototypes.
The President of the United States is not welcome here.
“He violated the Constitution,” Vargas told a crowd of anti-Trump protesters. “He’s obstructed justice and, worst of all, he has brought his racism to the national level. He’s pitted people against each other.”
Vargas was far from alone in his criticism of Trump. More than a dozen anti-Trump protests sprung up around San Diego County, including large gatherings at the border near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and the San Diego County Administrative Building downtown.
Protesters vastly outnumbered small pockets of flag-waving Trump supporters who shouted anti-Mexican and anti-Latino epithets toward protesters. San Diego Police mostly kept the groups apart, though some Trump supporters waving Confederate battle flags threw a few punches.
Vargas said Trump was “hopelessly and tragically out of touch with America” and called on him to resign now to avoid “inevitable impeachment.” Vargas said that the United States is a nation of immigrants, including Trump’s wife, Melania, a former model from Slovenia.
Brown Beret activist Eduard Calleros said Trump has been a catastrophe for American Latinos.
“We don’t need a racist president,” he said.
Vietnam veteran Danny Jackson said he was there to support his community and his multiracial family that includes black and gay members.
“The only wall I want him to visit is the Vietnam wall, in Washington, D.C., where more than 58,000 young Americans gave their lives,” he said.
DACA recipient Ali Torabi said Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are cruel to young undocumented people who grew up in America.
“Your reality is a little different,” he said. “Every day you live in the shadows, fearful. The border wall does not stop at the border. It does not stop at the checkpoints. They terrorize our community and they separate our families.”
Former City College student Diana Alvarez is a member of United We Dream.
“No one should live in this kind of fear,” she said. “It is frustrating to be put in a category, it angers me sometimes, but I have a lot of hope.”
SWC Governing Board Member Roberto Alcantar said he was glad to see the anti-Trump turnout.
“We are here putting our word out there,” he said. “So when he comes here he knows that he is not welcome. He created this crisis.”
Alcantar said people who are free to speak must do so for those at risk.
“Those of us who are privileged need to speak up for those in fear,” he said. “They can’t do this right now. It is not the time to expose themselves. We have to be united.”
Father Edmundo Zarate of Saint Anthony Church said people of good will need to stick together.
“We are brothers and sisters no matter where we come from,” he said. “Do not be oblivious to the suffering of your brothers and sisters. The DNA is human.”
