By: Ashmar Mandou

Hundreds of thousands of protestors took over the streets of Chicago on Monday in several May Day events occurring across the city protesting the policies of President Trump. “The election of Donald Trump is a challenge to all of us, whether we will stand up and speak up for our values,” said Senator Dick Durbin. “We have seen people coming together. The question is whether we will take this energy and emotion and translate it into political action to elect men and women who will stand up for the values of America.” May Day — also known as International Worker’s Day — has produced protests around the globe in past years highlighting workers’ rights. But on Monday, the motivation for the U.S. marches span from immigrants’ rights to LGBT awareness to police misconduct. Over the years, Immigration has become the dominant issue in Chicago’s May Day marches. This year, however, many more families are voicing their fears and some are making plans in case their relatives are deported. “We are passing a budget bill which says there will be no wall, and expressly says not one penny for a wall, no expansion of the enforcement force for ICE and others, and no penalty for sanctuary cities like Chicago and sanctuary counties like Cook County,” Durbin said. “Today is a day for unified resistance. Across the country, people have taken this day to march, organize, and display their opposition to the divisive and immoral agenda of the Trump Administration… I will continue to echo their demand for action in the halls of Congress and will join my Democratic colleagues from the House and Senate tonight at an event to demonstrate our commitment to the resistance movement and their values,” said U.S. Rep (IL-9) Jan Schakowsky.