Thousands of people, including educators, labor union representatives, elected officials and community members, filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles on May Day to rally against the Trump administration and its policies.

The demonstration was a part of a nationwide International Workers’ Day protest, where participants condemned what they called “a war on working people,” citing federal layoffs, immigration crackdowns, and cuts to education, healthcare, and diversity programs.

In Los Angeles, marchers gathered early in the morning at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street before winding through downtown and ending outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. Later in the day, the demonstrations were set to continue with rallies in Boyle Heights and MacArthur Park.

The downtown crowd—young and old, from all walks of life—marched with banners declaring, “One Struggle, One Fight–Workers United”–this year’s rallying cry. Others waved signs like “Deportation without due process is kidnapping,” “Fund healthcare & education, not war,” and some carried paper puppets of Trump and Elon Musk.

To Rosa Salas, a social studies teacher at Saint Mark’s School in Altadena, the march was both personal and professional.

The daughter of immigrants, she came to the U.S. when she was 2 years old. “This is my home, this is also my indigenous home,” said Salas, who is also a member of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) .

After showing up to class this morning at her school’s temporary campus — her previous classroom was destroyed by the Eaton fire in January – she joined the protest downtown.

Salas said she struggles to reconcile what she teaches with what her students see in the world around them. She said recent policies are “really hindering my ability to give my students hope to say that there is a path forward when we are reliving hateful history.”

Still, the march gave her a sense of possibility. “Resistance is actually standing up for yourself and standing up for others, even in privilege,” she said. “I think today is a day that we find inspiration, that we see that we are united and that there’s a path forward in unity.”

Salas wasn’t alone in raising concerns about how politics are shaping what happens in schools. Max Arias, executive director of SEIU Local 99—which represents bus drivers, custodians, instructional aides, cafeteria workers and special education assistants at LAUSD—said immigration fears continue to weigh heavily on school employees.

“A lot of our members are either immigrants themselves or live in immigrant households, so the fear has been in the schools,” he said. “Our members are sometimes worried to act and organize because they fear that the district’s going to use their immigration status against them.”

In addition to immigration concerns, Arias said the union is bargaining with LAUSD to push for fair wages and stronger workplace protections. Workers secured a 30% wage increase after a strike in 2023.

“Yet two years later, our members are still struggling with housing and security and food insecurity, and the district keeps ignoring us,” he said. “So today’s an opportunity to come and join in solidarity and raise our voices. But if the district doesn’t act soon, you’re going to see another strike again.”

The march also drew families, some bringing young children to take part in the day’s message.

Roberto Garcia-Ceballos, who co-founded two community-based organizations — Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre and Community Power Collective — brought his 7-year-old daughter, Dalila, after she helped him make protest signs and insisted on coming along.

“She got really excited, and she wanted to stand up for our community rights,” Garcia-Ceballos said.

Garcia-Ceballos said he hopes the experience leaves a lasting impression. He wants her to know that she’s “part of a community—that there’s other people that care about our neighbors, and that we don’t want any injustice to happen to anyone.”

Many participants noted the importance of standing together. Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director and co-founder at AAPI Equity Alliance and Stop AAPI Hate, marched with several fellow members holding a banner that read “Stop the Hate.”

“Our communities are immigrant communities, and we believe in immigrants’ rights. We believe in due process,” she said. “We believe in a government that is just, fair and equitable to all of our residents. So that’s why we’re here in solidarity with our Latino, African-Americans and Indigenous sisters and brothers.”

The protest also coincided with the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a connection Kulkarni said made the event more meaningful.

“A part of our heritage is knowing and understanding our immigrant roots,” Kulkarni said, noting that she came here with her parents in 1971 when she was 2. “I’m an immigrant, but I’m also an American,” she added.

As the march moved through downtown, volunteers worked quietly in the background to help keep the event safe and focused. Brian Jointer, a volunteer with Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), a South L.A.-based group which focuses on creating economic opportunities for low-income communities, said protecting one another is part of the broader mission.

“We have to make sure that we protect the vulnerable in our community as one voice that has to be united and elevated to make sure that everyone has equal rights,” he said, adding, “not civil rights, but equal rights.”

Jointer added that the gathering of so many different groups sent a powerful message.

“It’s a beautiful sight to see all of the organizations across SoCal come together for one mission,” Jointer said. “And that mission is to make sure that our voices are heard–and that people know that people in L.A., we matter.”