Trump protesters weigh in on NYC visit

• Michael Dominic, 46, a documentary filmmaker from Jackson Heights, said he cares most about Trump’s immigration policies.

  “It’s what this country is and what it was founded on: When people are in need, you welcome them. You don’t shut them out. That’s a mean, selfish stance,” he said.

  “People coming to our country are not trying to take our jobs. They’re trying to find a better life,” he added.

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• Drew Pham, 29, of Brooklyn, was at De Witt Clinton Park in Manhattan, protesting plans to build a wall along the Mexican border and the travel ban, which he called a “Muslim ban.” Pham enlisted with the Army in 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.

  “This is not the country I volunteered to fight for,” he said.

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• Asa Lowe, 45, of Coney Island, Brooklyn, was one of a handful of Trump supporters at West 44th Street and 12th Avenue.

  “Why are we sending our jobs overseas?” he said. “NAFTA is wrong. Keep jobs in America! He’s gonna end NAFTA. There ain’t gonna be no jobs going overseas. That’s it.”

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• Dinetta Gilmore, of Brookyln, was selling anti-Trump buttons for $2 and “Resist Trump” flags for $5 on the corner of West 44th Street and 12th Avenue. She makes them in her apartment.

  “Anything to do with this guy, business is going to be good,” she said. “Every time he opens his mouth, we get to make a new button. Every time he opens his mouth, the registers ring.”

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• Melvyn Stevens, 74, a geriatric nurse from Greenwich Village, explains the elaborate costume he made more than a month ago: “This guy on the top is Bannon and he’s pulling the strings for Trump.”

  Stevens said he wanted to make Trump know he didn’t win the popular vote.

  “As far as I’m concerned, he’s not my president, and I want to see him impeached. I hope he sees this from the boat,” he said.

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• “We need accountability and transparency,” said Norbert Sinski, 74, a clinical social worker and Catholic priest from Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

  “We’ve had it with every other president. It’s basically the theme, follow the money . . . We may not change a lot of things but he’s not going to change us.”

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• Diane Atkins, of Brooklyn, argued with Trump foes protesting across from the Intrepid.

  “Trump will change the USA!” she said.

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Thousands of protesters assembled for President Donald Trump’s homecoming Thursday as dozens of civil rights, immigration and women’s advocacy groups mobilized opponents.

Hours before Trump arrived in New York, demonstrators gathered on Manhattan’s West Side, near the Intrepid aircraft carrier that now holds the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where the president dined with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Some demonstrators banged pots, while others carried anti-Trump signs.

Unlike the more recent protests, such as the March for Science and the NYC Tax March, which focused on specific issues or causes near and dear to New Yorkers’ hearts, Thursday’s demonstrations were more overarching in nature.

So why are New Yorkers protesting? Scroll down to find out.