Also see: Protest Journal: Trump’s San Diego Visit.
UPDATED as of 3/13
Monday–
Rally and Press Conference — Monday, March 12 at 11 am, Chicano Park, Participants include Alliance San Diego, American Friends Service Committee, San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, Southern Border Communities Coalition, Interfaith Justice Coalition, Unite Here Local 30, Union del Barrio, City Councilmember Georgette Gomez (D-9)
Fuera Donald Trump — Monday, March 12 at 5pm, Edward J Schwartz Federal Building, 880 Front Street, For More Information, Hosted by Unión del Barrio
Tuesday–
NOTE: Both protests scheduled for Otay Mesa have been moved to San Ysidro due to safety concerns. This listing is accurate as of 7:20am Tuesday.
Protest Trump at San Ysidro Border
9:30 – 11:30am
Corner of Virginia Ave and Camino de La Plaza San Ysidro
For More Information
Being Organized by Nuevo Movimento and San Diego Protests
We are meeting at the San Ysidro border crossing and welcoming our Mexican brothers and Sisters into the United States. We are meeting at the corner of Virginia Ave and Camino de La Plaza. We will have a couple of speakers and open Mic for our community members. We hope to see you all there. Afterward feel free to stop by at the Women’s March and Clergy event located at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church
2020 Alaquinas Drive
San Ysidro, CA 92173.
Please show up in masses and support us! Park at Las Americas mall outlet, plenty of free parking there. The rally will be at the corner of Camino de la Plaza and Virginia Ave.
Press Conference and Rally:
Interfaith Leaders and Elected Officials to Urge Trump
to Build Bridges Not Walls in San Diego Visit
Tuesday, March 13 at Noon, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, 2020 Alaquinas Drive, San Ysidro. Hosted by San Diego Organizing Project.
Elected officials, including Kevin de León, CA State Senator, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, CA State Assemblymember, Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director, ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, David Garcias, Labor Leader, will join community leaders and clergy from diverse faith traditions to urge President Trump to protect California’s immigrant communities. Hundreds will protest and share moving stories at a Catholic church overlooking the border wall.
This is the first event on the ground that is part of the ACLU’s national campaign targeting Trump to take executive action to protect Dreamers. The campaign includes multiple six-figure advertising buys focusing on Trump. A 30-second video spot speaking to Trump directly will air during Fox & Friends, his favorite show, in Washington, D.C. this week.
Women’s March San Diego issued the following statement late on Monday
After gathering information and many considerations, Women’s March San Diego has decided to join forces with many community organizations and rally (see above) at the following location near the border:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 2020 Alaquinas Drive, San Ysidro, CA 92173
Rally and Press Conference: Stand with Immigrant Families’
Hosted by San Diego Organizing Project
Speeches begin at NOON!
WOMEN’S MARCH SAN DIEGO WILL ARRIVE AT 11:30 TO VOICE OUR OPPOSITION TO THE WALL AND THIS VISIT!
For More Information, Hosted by Women’s March San Diego
Taxpayers Resist Trump’s Wall – Tuesday, March 3, 9:30am, Corner of F St and Front St (on lawn behind IRS Building), For More Information, Hosted by Indivisible San Diego
San Diego Undocuyouth RESIST Trump— Tuesday, March 13, 5:30pm, Waterfront Park – County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Highway, For More Information, Hosted by The Seed Project
***
Lured by the prospect of fat cat donors paying between $35,000 and $250,000 to watch him eat well-done steak with ketchup, a chance to poke a stick in the eyes of Left Coast Progressives, and the opportunity to extol his Border Wall hallucination, the Oligarch-in-Chief is coming to California on March 13.
Specifics about the visit are in short supply beyond a daytime visit to the wall prototypes in Otay Mesa and a Republican fundraiser in Beverley Hills.
The Fresno Bee says there are rumors Trump will visit Fresno on the following day to reward Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Comrade) for his loyalty. The Union-Tribune speculated last week on the possibility of Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Grifter) tagging along for the border wall inspection. Voice of San Diego asked City Council Republicans and the mayor if they had any plans to appear with Trump and basically got a collective shoulder shrug.
Here’s what we know via the media as of Thursday morning:
From the Los Angeles Times:
President Trump, the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to skip a visit to California in his initial year in office, finally will come to the Golden State on Tuesday to inspect prototypes for his proposed southern border wall, according to an administration official.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday said Trump would visit next week. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to divulge internal planning, confirmed the president would spend Tuesday in the state with which he’s had the most fraught relationship.
The visit comes as the relationship between Trump and the Democratic state government has reached a new level of toxicity. Many residents consider California to be the center of resistance to Trump, and he has returned the sentiment, often criticizing the state— and suing it. The administration filed suit this week to enforce federal immigration actions.
From another article in the Los Angeles Times:
President Trump will headline a high-dollar fundraiser for his reelection campaign when he visits California next week for the first time in his presidency, according to an invitation obtained by The Times.
Donors will contribute up to $250,000 each to Trump’s campaign and various Republican National Committee accounts to attend the Tuesday evening event at an undisclosed location in Beverly Hills. The top ticket price includes a roundtable, photo opportunity and dinner. The cheapest ticket, which is dinner only, costs $35,000 for an individual and $50,000 for a couple.
The fundraiser is being hosted by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, national finance chairman Todd Ricketts and deputy national finance chairman Elliott Broidy.
The Union-Tribune reports local nativists are ready to celebrate:
Jeff Schwilk, founder of San Diegans for Secure Borders and one of the organizers of the pro-wall rally, said he’s planning another event in support of Trump’s visit to the prototypes.
“We welcome President Trump’s visit to San Diego to inspect his new border wall prototypes and to see how our existing secure double fence in San Diego has reduced illegal border crossings here by over 90 percent during the past 10 to 15 years,” Schwilk said. “San Diego is living proof that border fences and walls keep us safe and we look forward to President Trump fulfilling his main campaign promise of finally securing our border.”
Ben Bergquam, founder of Frontline America and one of the organizers of the “Build the Wall” rally, said he planned to return to San Diego for Schwilk’s event.
The UT queried Michael Workman, a spokesman for the county, who expected officials to activate a temporary area restriction, banning “implements of riot.”
Another article in the local daily on Wednesday said interim District Attorney Summer Stephan was reviewing a Sheriff’s Department report about attacks made by nativist rally attendees against counter-demonstrators. The December 9th incident occurred subsequent to temporary area restrictions being put in place.
The likely impetus for the investigation was complaints filed by people who suffered injuries that day. Eyewitness reports assert Sheriff’s Deputies were slow or failed to respond.
Videos and still photos of the fights show some protesters using flagpoles to strike opponents, in what appears to be a violation of the new ordinance. [County Sherif’s Department spokesperson Lt. Karen] Stubkjaer did not specifically say why no one was cited or arrested for violating the ordinance, which was put in place by officials concerned over the kind of scenario that played out at the rally…
The outcome of the Dec. 9 rally led the department to come up with procedures for the next time the ordinance is used, she said. While the notice for that day banned poles for “signs and banners,” about a month later the county invoked the ordinance for a second time — believing another set of protests was planned, perhaps in connection with a rumored visit by Trump, which never occurred.
That second notice still banned poles, but added “flags” to the “signs and banners” portion of the posted notice.
Union del Barrio has announced a “Fuera Donald Trump” protest for Monday, March 12, at 5pm at the Federal Building
From the Facebook announcement:
On June 16th, 2015, Donald Trump announced his candidacy and began his constant attack against the Mexicano community. He called us criminals and rapists that day and vowed to build his wall. Union del Barrio organized a united front against Trumpism when he made his last visit to San Diego in May of 2016. We will continue defending our community when this fascist President visits Indigenous Kumeyay land to decide what prototype to use along this imposed border that divides families and further alienates Mexicans on both sides of the border. We call on all honest forces to join us to resist and defend our community on March 12th 2018 at 5pm at the Federal Building in downtown San Diego.
***
FYI: As I said last week…
The area surrounding the wall prototypes isn’t a great choice as a demonstration location, due to limited access and its remote location. A Presidential motorcade through San Diego seems unlikely; my bet is he’ll fly into a military facility and be taken by heliocopter to visit the site.
***
I expect there will be more announcements, and I’ll add them to this post and the Friday Progressive activist Calendar as I learn about them.
***
It’s International Women’s Day. Here’s some good advice:
Read women.
Cite women.
Credit women.Teach women.
Publish women.
Present women.Acknowledge women.
Award women.
Amplify women.Hire women.
Support women.
Promote women.Hear women.
Believe women.
Follow women.Pay women.
Pay women.
Pay women. #IWD2018— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) March 8, 2018
Looking for some action? Check out the Weekly Progressive Calendar, published every Friday in this space, featuring Demonstrations, Rallies, Teach-ins, Meet Ups and other opportunities to get your activism on.
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Doug Porter
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can you picture Air Force 1 landing at Brown Field?
*sigh* Why give this spoiled brat any notice at all? He doesn’t like our state (and we don’t like him right back); and he only craves attention, anyway. Get him where it really hurts. Just shrug him off with a collective “meh…” And watch him squirm and pout and…
(Now that, I’d consider bringing popcorn to…)
BTW: Air Force 1, at Brown Field? With all due respect to Brown Field – the optics that summons, are totally hilarious…
yeah, i know; that’s the joke.
(remember, Reba McIntyre was killed in a small aircraft taking off from there.)
Remembered hearing something about that, and did a quick bit of checking…
Thankfully, she is still living. Alas, though, several members of her band were lost when the aircraft they were in crashed. She was not aboard…
he does hate our state. we had two horrible wild fires with loss of life and property loss and Californians killed in mud slides. where was he then.? we are American citizens too. we don’t need is faked sympathy or paper towels like he threw in Puerto rico. But I sure keep paying fderal taxes an am NOT interested in a a 52 billion wall.. buy some legos potus. maybe that’ll help your issues those small hands cause you. Sorry I don’t rant. where do we protest.
as a woman, all I can say is that it has been a heart-breaking year…another…let us all bend toward the future of freedom and equality for all, let us try that that. why not?
“a chance to poke a stick in the eyes of Left Coast Progressives”
Kinda with thoughtfulness on this. Let’s simply not give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
Thoughtfulbear
thanks..first time on the site.
I hope that all the people heading down to Otay Mesa for the protest rally will be sure to keep an eye on the 905 south freeway signs. Especially when it says “Siempre Viva Road, Last U. S. Exit.” Anyone missing that exit will be entering Mexico, and will have to go through Customs and Immigration to come back (and perhaps a long, long northbound line).
Note: For the protest location, the direction you take on that last U. S. exit is EAST-Bound. (If you wrongly take the exit lane to the West, you’ll have to go down a few blocks and make a U-turn but at least you’ll still be in the U. S.)
No doubt everyone uses GPS and will not have any problems but with all the security there will be (and thousands of trucks in the area on a typical weekday) it can be confusing.
that’s helpful. . please to those organizing let us know where to meet and where to park.
A better way to find out about parking & other questions would be to click on either the “For More Info” or sponsoring org’s links and leave a question there.
is it too late for the organizers to have carpooling locations? so many vehicles going there — where is the parking?? also, you KNOW they will be recording license numbers.