In what's becoming routine at these sorts of protests lately, various speakers took turns at the stage on Scissortail Park's north end, sharing their stories and all the reasons people should care about the way President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies are implemented in Oklahoma and across the country.
This time last year, a crowd easily five times its size filled the southern courtyard of the Oklahoma State Capitol in protest of House Bill 4156, a law criminalizing anyone in the state without legal immigration status.
Today, that law is in effect, despite being held up in court for months by the federal government.
Considerably fewer immigrants showed up to make their opposition known on Sunday, as immigration related detainments and raids on private homes have been reported locally.
Ivan is a father of three and a foreman for a concrete construction company. He was at the protest with his wife and kids, face covered and yet wielding a Mexican flag that poked above the crowd. He only shared his first name because he's in the country without legal permission.
"So as far as myself, I am an immigrant," Ivan said. "Okay. I've been here most of my life since I was, you know, five years old. I grew up in this country. I grew up in this town, and this is all I know. And I'm not willing to go anywhere else."
He continued, "Every day, I wake up in the morning, and you got to look out two or three windows before you walk out that door. And honestly, it's hell. It's hell to live that way. I don't think any human being anywhere should live that way."
Even so, he said fear isn't enough to keep him away.
"It's hard and scary to be out here today, but our voices have to be heard," Ivan said. "So I'm out here not just for me, but I'm out here for my kids, my family, you know? A brighter future."
President of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, and former House District 88 candidate Nicole Maldonado and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, helped plan the event with the help of a few other local advocacy groups. They both acknowledged the crowd was sparse compared to last year's huge movement at the Capitol to try to stop HB 4156.
Part of that was by design, said Maldonado.
"We achieved our goal," she said. "That was to reach out to our allies. That's what we wanted. We didn't want to expose the high-risk community members, which is undocumented immigrants or DACA or green card holders, because at the end of the day, you know, we have to use our privilege."
The crowd reflected Maldonado's point. While most people waved American flags along with those from various Latin American countries, rainbow flags supporting the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter banners were also flown.
One of the allies was Liz Miller, a middle-aged white woman from Oklahoma City. She had a small stack of personal posters condemning the Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement. She called the President's playbook to consolidate executive power outright fascist.
"We have seen this playbook before," Miller said. "Hitler…was given power by the people that were in authority in Germany at the time. That is what happened with Trump."
Probably also by design, the stories and speeches on the stage throughout the morning and into the early evening were forceful and almost threatening compared to those given within the crowd and as people fizzled home.
At one point, Fernando Vaquera Ochoa, a local activist and teacher who also helped organize student protests outside the state education department building a couple of months ago, gave a hearty speech that resonated with many in the crowd.
"We are undocumented, but we are undeniable," Ochoa said. "They try to hide us, but we refuse to disappear. See, they cross an ocean that's 9,000,000 feet wide. And they said they discovered a land that was already occupied. We crossed a river that's only 40 feet wide. But yet we're met with walls, cages and cruelty."
"But let me remind you of something," he continued. "We picked the food that fills their tables. We build their homes. We care for their lawns, their children, their family members. But we also do more than that. We defend them in court. We patrol their streets and we teach their kids. And one day soon, one of our children will take oath as President of the United States of America."
Ivan brought up the idea during an interview shortly after Ochoa's speech.
"Walk into any job site here in Oklahoma where we're building schools, hospitals, you know, anything — throw a stone at any subcontractor — I guarantee it that they're going to have undocumented immigrants working for every trade," he said.
He said if you send people like him away, all the infrastructure around this state would crumble. And while such conversations happen at every level of government, Ivan spends his time looking to the future greatness of Oklahoma and the nation.
"I was just talking to my son right here that…it would be great if he was, you know, the president when he gets to that age or even, you know, a member of Congress or something like that. We need more," he said. "We don't have enough voices."
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