Immigration protests take place across the Valley

Protestors are marching in the streets against the Trump Administration’s mass deportation and immigration policies. Glendale and Downtown Phoenix have seen peaceful marches take place. Reyna Montoya, the founder of Aliento AZ, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss recent protests and their impact.

Montoya was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and her family immigrated to Mesa in 2003. Montoya graduated from ASU and later founded Aliento AZ, which was instrumental in the passage of Prop 308, which allows DACA recipients to qualify for in-state tuition rates. Aliento AZ’s help focuses on undocumented students, DACA recipients and mixed statuses.

Protest perspectives

Montoya talked about the protests, mentioning that not all of them have been well-coordinated. There are young people and older people who are seeing videos on TikTok and social media, and they just want to do something about that. “I would say a majority of them have been peaceful,” said Montoya.

“People are really afraid, and they are really concerned because what you are seeing on the media, what you are hearing from the Trump Administration is not what is actually happening on the ground,” said Montoya.

Montoya also shared a statistic that over 75% of people who are being deported are people without criminal convictions.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding private spaces and deportation issues, such as deportations at schools and churches. Montoya said a friend had chosen to attend church online instead of going in person.

Montoya also talked about two students who didn’t go to school the day this happened due to fear and their families being scared.

“There is a lot of confusion and misinformation,” so they have to bring it upon themselves to spread awareness, Montoya said.