‘God didn’t make nobody illegal’

“MAGA – Migrants Ain’t Going Anywhere.” “Stop worker abuse.” “No human is illegal on stolen land.”

Those were some of the messages on signs held aloft as about 100 people gathered on Hinds Plaza on June 11. They assembled in a show of support for Los Angeles protesters who opposed raids conducted by the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents that swept up allegedly illegal immigrants.

Organizers led the attendees in call-and-response chants – “Say it loud, say it clear. Immigrants are welcome here.” “From Gaza to Mexico, border walls have got to go.”

Ana Paolina Pazmina, the executive director of Resistencia En Accion NJ, told the attendees that “with this energy, they’re going to come and take us all.”

Pazmina said she was very excited to see the attendees. She said she is a proud immigrant from Ecuador whose parents migrated to the United States more than 30 years. They would never have thought that their daughter would be fighting for immigrant rights in 2025, she said.

“You need to go out and be part of your community,” she said. “We know we have power in numbers. We are all united, we must not be divided. We believe in people power. Leave fear at the door.”

Another speaker, who declined to be identified, shared with the attendees that she came to the United States as a child because it was a beacon of hope.

She thought she would have a house with a swimming pool and the accoutrements of success, but her experience has turned out differently.

She said the reality for most immigrants is not a 401(K) retirement plan although they pay taxes, and also disputed allegations that undocumented immigrants are taking benefits such as Social Security. They do not qualify for those benefits, she said.

The rally was peaceful until a scuffle broke out between the attendees and a man and a woman, whose objections were centered on the issue of Palestine and the hostages being held by Hamas.

Some of the attendees waved the Palestinian flag and wore black-and-white keffiyeh scarfs, which are symbolic of Palestinians and their supporters. They swarmed around the couple and began taking videos of them on their smartphones.

After the speakers finished their remarks, the attendees formed a line and marched across Witherspoon Street to Hulfish Street. They walked up Palmer Square East to Nassau Street and back to Witherspoon Street and Hinds Plaza.

“God didn’t make nobody illegal,” said speaker Rev. Erich Kussman of Bartholomew Lutheran Church in Trenton. “Don’t let today be a one-off. We want to be able to work, have a car and play in the yard with the dog.”