On Wednesday night, thousands of protesters packed into Washington Square Park in New York for an emergency rally in support of Muslim and immigrant rights. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations organized the event after leaked documents showed Trump is preparing to sign an executive order blocking visas from being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. We hear from New York City Public Advocate Letitia James and Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour and speak to Vincent Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Faiza Patel of the Brennan Center.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: On Wednesday night, thousands of protesters packed into Washington Square Park in New York for an emergency rally in support of Muslim and immigrant rights. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations organized the event after leaked documents showed Trump is preparing to sign an executive order blocking visas from being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. New York City Public Advocate Letitia James addressed the crowd.
LETITIA JAMES: Listen. If you honor the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, then all of you have an obligation. Whenever you see a government that is lawless, you’ve got an obligation and a duty to do what? Resist! Resist! Resist! Resist! Resist! Resist! Resist!
AMY GOODMAN: At the rally, Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour spoke to Democracy Now!
LINDA SARSOUR: My name is Linda Sarsour, and I’m the executive director at the Arab American Association of New York. And we’re here out in Washington Square Park with New Yorkers from all backgrounds standing with their Muslim sisters and brothers. They are outraged by the proposals to ban Muslims, to ban refugees. And they’re saying that this is not what New York is about. We are a city of immigrants. I’m very proud today to be a New…