‘Ready to fight like hell.’ Anti-Trump Charlotte protesters march for immigrant rights
Protesters marched through the heart of Charlotte’s immigrant community on Saturday to denounce what they called the Trump administration’s illegal and unwarranted deportations and anti-union, anti-worker policies and actions.
Police estimated the crowd of marchers on Central Avenue in east Charlotte at 1,500.
The Charlotte-Metrolina Labor Council, Action NC, Carolina Migrant Network and other community groups held the event to celebrate International Workers’ Day.
“I’m out here because I’m disgusted with what’s happening in our country, what Trump is doing, and this is only the second protest I’ve been to in my life,” Susan Ward of Charlotte said as she and other early arriving protesters received occasional honks of support from drivers. “The last one was a few weeks ago.”
Ward, 75, displayed a handmade sign that read “Dump Trump” on one side and “Justice for All” on the other. “All the lies,” she said. “They’re taking all our rights from us,” mentioning people being “taken away who are citizens, or anybody, without due process. I hope we can dump him.”
The event followed other protests in the region, including a rally and march by Lake Norman Indivisible in Davidson on Thursday.
“I’m here to be with all the workers internationally,” Angel Orellana, a 20-year-old Charlottean of Mexican and Salvadoran descent said. “This is what the movement’s for. The struggle is always going to be the same, no matter where we are, whether it’s Mexico, El Salvador, here in the U.S. or in Palestine.“
Ryan Christiano held a poster that read, “We are the 99 Percent.” She is in her early 20s and from the Lake Norman area, she said.
Lower- and middle-class workers hold the majority of political power, she said. “Elected officials are supposed to work for us, and the 1% shouldn’t be hoarding all the wealth at the top of the pyramid and refusing to redistribute it down so everybody else doesn’t have to suffer,” Christiano said
“It’s we the people,” her uncle Paul Nowosielski of Wingate said. “It’s as simple as that.”
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-Charlotte, drew repeated applause as she addressed the crowd outside La Coalición (Latin American Coalition) on Central Avenue before the march.
“I support you, because immigrants’ rights are workers’ rights,” Adams said. “Our immigrant communities are a bedrock of the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and the country.”
Immigrants are “job creators and business owners,” she said, including at least 16% of business owners in Mecklenburg County. She said they’ve delivered thousands of new jobs to the region and more than a billion dollars a year in tax revenue.
“Without immigrants there would be no United Sates of America,” Adams said .
She cited pro-immigrant, pro-worker legislation she’s sponsored and criticized Trump for his actions against both groups.
“The power of our government does not come from one man’s ego,” Adams said. “It comes from the people, and the people are ready to fight like hell. So listen, as you march today, march with your heads high, march with your signs raised and march with your voices loud.”
“This is a movement to be proud of, and you will always have an ally in me,” Adams said before the crowd marched peacefully and chanted loudly, as an overhead police drone and scores of officers on bicycles monitored the two-hour event.
This story was originally published May 3, 2025 at 3:33 PM.