On Saturday (August 12), as President Donald Trump’s supporters descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, in the name of White supremacy, approximately 1,000 people marched in a multiracial, peaceful action against Trump’s proposed border wall in Mission, Texas.
Mission is a small city situated along the U.S.-Mexican border. Home to approximately 80,000 people, it is located in the Rio Grande Valley, where sixty miles of the wall are set to be constructed, based on current plans.
The march began before sunrise at Mission’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. From there, the participants—organized in part by the Sierra Club’s Borderlands campaign—crossed the Rio Grande levee shouting slogans in English and Spanish.
The march covered four miles, ending at La Lomita Chapel. According to The New York Times, the 19th century structure "was originally intended as a sign of friendship between America and Mexico." Per The Washington Post, the border wall would seal La Lomita on the Mexcian side of the levee, under the current proposal.
“We might seem small and insignificant. Maybe we are,” 19-year-old Rio Grande Valley native Anthoney Saenz told the Post, “But when our voices come together, when we band together as a community to try to get a voice out there, we have to hope we get heard.”
Below, moments from the march:
my lil butterfly wings read "Migration is Beautiful" ?#NoBorderWall #NoAlMuro #ProtectSTXWildlife #ProtectThePeople pic.twitter.com/hPDuTAuJXE
— aima ? (@d0okiebraids) August 12, 2017
PHOTOS: ‘Save the Mission! Save the River! Resist the Wall!’ protest and march in Mission, Texas https://t.co/O0L1EiLM3V pic.twitter.com/aO6n7dAhpK
— Austin Statesman (@statesman) August 14, 2017
"We don’t want a wall." 17 -year old Tanya Borrego joined other high school students today to protest a border wall at the Santa Ana NWR pic.twitter.com/dJp2sE4zvS
— Melissa del Bosque (@MelissaLaLinea) August 13, 2017
A number of protestors drew attention to plans for the wall to run through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. As Colorlines has reported, an 18-foot levee wall would run almost three miles through the land. It is slated for the first phase of construction.
Out here Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge with hundreds of rad people fighting for wildlife and human rights. #noborderwall @JohnCornyn pic.twitter.com/pN4Lc8TOI6
— Daniel Alvarado (@Citizenvelo) August 12, 2017
We shouldn’t have to pay for a wall that will destroy a wildlife refuge. Make those calls. Call, text, fax your reps. #NoBorderWall pic.twitter.com/G9vykrf0Q3
— LaUnion PuebloEntero (@LUPE_rgv) August 12, 2017
The administration is targeting the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge as a primary building site for their inhumane border wall. #NoBorderWall pic.twitter.com/P4dFuFWXe2
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) August 12, 2017
Huge human chain this morning at s protest against the proposed border wall at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge #Borderwall #border #Texas pic.twitter.com/8p52WxkupV
— Kelsey Jukam (@kelseyjukam) August 13, 2017