More than 500 people, part of several immigrant-rights groups, rallied on Saturday against recent deportations of undocumented immigrants and called for an end to the NYPD’s broken-windows policy.
Five people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct during the demonstration, which began at 2 p.m. in Washington Square Park, police said. The individuals arrested were four males and one female. One of the males was also charged with resisting arrest, cops said.
The rally had been organized by ICE FREE NYC, the Coalition to End Broken Windows, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and other groups.
Broken-windows policing targets small crimes on the theory that it will prevent bigger ones from happening. But advocates are concerned that the policy will put immigrants in danger under the Trump administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 25 that calls for the removal of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted or charged with “any criminal offense.”
“People are being deported for jumping [subway] turnstiles,” Jasmar Trujillo, 38, of the Coalition To End Broken Windows, told the crowd. “New York City is not a sanctuary city. Broken windows puts our most vulnerable at risk.”
The rally came after hundreds of undocumented immigrants were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in multiple states, including New York.
Demonstrators yelled multiple chants, including “No ban, no registry, end white supremacy” and “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.”
Jamie Heinz, 72, of Manhattan, who has attended a dozen marches and rallies since Trump was elected, said she’s inspired by the public protests.
“There is major hope with all these people resisting. We cannot give up,” said Heinz, who protested segregation in the 1950s.
Photos from the rally show some demonstrators being arrested, but police did not immediately have information about how many arrests were made.
Washington Square Park was also the site of a rally in support of Planned Parenthood earlier Saturday.
-With Maria Alvarez
