Southern Californians traveling through Los Angeles may see a march and rally along Wilshire Boulevard on Thursday, Dec. 18.
It's part of International Migrants Day, and it's likely themost important onein the past five years, said Oscar Zarate, director of external affairs for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights — CHIRLA is among the organizations involved in Thursday's rally.
Participants will meet at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and the march will proceed through MacArthur Park to a nearby Home Depot. The march and rally's location is purposeful: "traversing the streets of Los Angeles in communities heavily impacted by recent ICE raids," according to organizers.
The importance behind this move is, in part, to communicate to community members not to be "scared," countering what Zarate said is part of the Trump administration's goal: Using fear to make people opt to self-deport.
"Choosing those locations is a way of us saying, 'No, that these spaces are ours. We're reclaiming them,'" Zarate said. "And that people should not be in fear or be so in fear that they're not leaving their homes."
It comes amid months of, at times, highly public, federal enforcement against people lacking legal status in the United States — Los Angelenos and Southern California communities included. Protests against federal raids in Los Angeles in June triggered a notable response:Trump deployedCalifornia National Guard and U.S. Marines troops to the city, a move condemned by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other officials.
The march and rally serve as a "loud reminder" that "there is no Los Angeles without immigrants," said Sebastian Silva, deputy communications director of SEIU United Service Workers West.
Silva said immigrants make up the "fabric" of Los Angeles, from its founding to the present day, and "make the economy run."
"It's an opportunity for us to say, 'Not only are we here. Not only do we demand safety and security and to live free from fear and free from raids, but we deserve rights, and we deserve recognition for all the hard work that we put into creating the LA that we know, that we love, and the LA that continues to be welcoming to immigrants," Silva said.
What is the International Migrants Day 2025 theme?
This year's theme for International Migrants Day is "My Great Story: Cultures and Development." The theme, according to theUnited Nations, "highlights how human mobility drives growth, enriches societies, and helps communities connect, adapt, and support one another."
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atpbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:LA march, rally planned on International Migrants Day 2025
