Fear over immigration status keeps some from Seattle May Day rally

Seattle’s May Day celebrations are set to begin Thursday with a rally at Cal Anderson Park at noon, focusing on workers’ and immigrants’ rights.

King County resident Hilda Ortiz plans to attend the event, which she says has taken on new and serious significance.

“Everybody’s afraid, I mean, even people that have legal status,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz noted that some individuals, fearing immigration crackdowns under the Trump administration, are too afraid to attend the rally and march. She asked them to create posters that can be displayed at the event.

“That way they are represented in some way, and they actually have a voice, even though it’s not gonna be a present voice physically there but they will have a voice on a poster,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz also plans to speak out against the notion that undocumented immigrants should return to their home countries until they can immigrate legally. She says the process can take years, which is too long for families facing violence, poverty, and drug cartels.

“They chose this because that’s the only way they can save their children,” Ortiz said.

Concern for her own family

Ortiz, a U.S.-born citizen with four U.S.-born children, said she and her kids carry copies of their passports for fear she’ll be targeted as a darker-skinned Latina woman.

“We’re in a country and a situation that we don’t know if we’ll be the next person targeted,” Ortiz said.

Her husband, a green card holder, also takes precautions.

“We are concerned, and he carries his green card everywhere he goes,” Ortiz said.

Seattle Police do not anticipate violence

Despite violence in past years on May Day, Seattle police say they do not have any reason to believe things will get out of hand this year.

The SWAT team and bomb squad will be on standby, but police say they aren’t expecting any trouble.

“We get our intel and try to determine if there’s anything that we should be aware of, and we really don’t have that known to us yet this year,” said SPD Southwest Precinct Commander Captain Krista Bair.

Many of the officers working May Day volunteered for the shift.

“There are people who actually signed up to be out there to assist and engage with the community and to ensure that it’s being done peacefully,” Bair said.