About 70 people gathered in front of the Princeton Public Library for a protest organized by Resistencia en Acción New Jersey on Wednesday, Nov. 6 following Donald Trump’s reelection.
Many spoke about their fears of a second Trump presidency, especially the impact it could have on undocumented immigrants. On almost everyone’s minds was the ICE raid in July that resulted in the detainment of a Princeton resident and reinvigorated immigrant rights activism in the town.
Translating for a community member named Andrea, Resistencia Director Ana Paola Pazmiño said, “She’s a mother. She’s a single mom, and she has a one-year old, and she is fearful of what will happen … what will happen to [her] son if [she gets] deported?”
Trump has promised an immigration overhaul that would implement workplace raids, deploy the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations of millions, and end birthright citizenship.
Speakers implored community members to come together to protect each other. “Last night, we had a very sad moment,” Pazmiño said. “But you know what? This makes us stronger.”
Rev. Erich Kussman, of Saint Bartholomew Lutheran Church, said, “This is about welcoming the immigrants. This is about welcoming our neighbors. This is about welcoming people that are created in the image of God, no matter what rhetoric comes from the top office of this land.”
“Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” National Day Laborer Organizing Network Coordinator Jorge Torres said. “We are gonna save ourselves.”
Torres specifically called on the University and the local government to support migrants in Princeton, urging, “We need to keep working together in terms of protecting ourselves, educating ourselves, keep pushing hard for the Princeton University to recognize that there is an undocumented community in this town, for the mayor, for the borough, to recognize that they need to protect us.”
In interviews after the rally, Kussman and Pazmiño both compelled students to get involved with local organizing in the wake of Trump’s victory.
“Shut it down. Don’t go to class. That’s what I would ask you to do. Have a sit-in,” Kussman said. “Hopefully the University can make more public statements and act.”
Pazmiño stressed solidarity between community members and students, noting, “I think that we have a lot of commonalities. We just haven’t seen them, because we’ve been so isolated.”
Nils Dahlin, a volunteer with the Trenton-based Eastern Service Workers Association (ESWA), urged students to get involved with local organizations. “Now is a time that’s really crucial to get out on the streets,” he said. Dahlin noted that he did not speak on behalf of the ESWA.
Numerous speakers throughout the rally referenced the ICE raid in July.
“We gotta continue to show this message of hope, this message of love, even if it offends the other side, no matter what. When we see our brothers and sisters in trouble; it’s up to us to stand in between that violence. It’s up to us, when ICE comes … that we put our bodies on the line so our brothers and sisters could get free,” Kussman said.
Chants included “sin papeles, sin miedo” and “ICE out of Princeton.” At times, the rally was met with hecklers, including a truck with a Trump flag that blared its horns as it drove by on Witherspoon Street.
While speakers denounced Trump’s racist and xenophobic rhetoric, many also stressed criticism of both major parties for their immigration policies.
Bryce Springfield ’25, a leader in Princeton’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, said, “We can’t expect either party to protect migrants when we saw with our own eyes the callous crackdowns that were happening in Princeton under Democratic administrations at all levels of government.”
Regardless of the election results, Springfield said, “either way, they would be calling for militarism on the border, militarism in our communities, with policing and genocide abroad.”
Similarly, Professor of History Vera Candiani denounced Trump and the Republican party as oppressors. “Likewise, the Democratic party is genocidal and imperialist,” Candiani claimed in Spanish.
“We are going to not only mobilize to defend our communities, to defend our unions, to defend our students who are being attacked right now, but also to form organizations that mobilize us and unify in the fight against the system,” she originally said in Spanish.
Springfield urged community members to build a multiracial coalition, saying, “We need to organize in our communities. We have a role to play. We have agency to fight back. We have the ability to reject the division of the working class Trump wants to see.”
Before leading protesters in a loop towards Palmer Square and back to Hinds Plaza, Pazmiño closed the speaking portion of the rally by inviting participants to attend the next Resistencia membership meeting on Monday, Nov. 11.
Annie Rupertus is a head News editor for the ‘Prince’ from Philadelphia, Pa. who often covers activism and campus governance.
Christopher Bao, Miriam Waldvogel, and Charlie Roth contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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