Seattle Workers and Immigrants Rally: ‘Enough Is Enough’ Against Trump’s Assaults

On May 1, Seattle’s May Day march swelled to almost double last year’s size, drawing nearly 4,000 workers, students, immigrants, and activists to Cal Anderson Park. The gathering was a defiant stand against the ongoing war on the working class and immigrant communities waged by the Trump administration.

Leading the charge were labor unions and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), joined by immigrant rights advocates and anti-war activists under the banner “Services, not war!” The march was not just a celebration of International Workers’ Day — it was a rallying cry against the relentless erosion of workers’ rights and civil liberties.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has attacked wage protections, safety regulations, and union rights. Last year’s executive order stripping federal workers of collective bargaining rights marked a major blow to labor’s power. Washington State Labor Council President April Sims didn’t mince words: “Those billionaires and those politicians don’t give a shit about us. They want to suck us dry for profit. Work us to the bone, chew us up and spit us out.”

The assault on immigrants has been equally brutal. In Minneapolis earlier this year, ICE raids led to the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Here in Washington, the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma remains a grim symbol of ICE’s cruelty. A recent lawsuit alleges detainees at NWDC suffered beatings and sexual assaults at the hands of jailers employed by the for-profit GEO Group.

SEIU6 President Zenia Javalera highlighted the dark business behind deportations. Airlines like Avelo, GlobalX Air, Eastern Airlines, and Omni Air International rake in millions flying shackled deportees thousands of miles under inhumane conditions. These flights are a cottage industry profiting off human suffering.

Trump’s warmongering abroad has only added to working people’s burdens at home. His aggressive policies against Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Cuba, and Venezuela have fueled a global oil crisis, driving gas prices in Washington state to $5.57 a gallon and pushing inflation higher. Joel Schillinger of Seattle Against War pointed out the staggering cost: “$1 billion per day for workers and families would be life-changing! Instead, U.S. workers are losing jobs, and families are struggling from losing life-saving services.”

Yet despite these attacks, the labor and immigrant rights movements are not backing down. “The billionaires want us to feel powerless,” Sims said. “But look around my friends. Are we powerless? Do we look powerless to you?” The May Day march made it clear: every attack on workers is an attack on immigrants, and vice versa.

As Lenin famously said 122 years ago, “In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization.” That truth echoed through the streets of Seattle as thousands chanted, “Union power on the rise! Now’s the time to organize!”

For those ready to move beyond protest, the FRSO is hosting a May Day panel on May 3 focused on building labor militancy, immigrant rights, and revolutionary organization. Because if the Trump administration thinks it can break our spirit, it’s got another thing coming.