JERSEY CITY -- More than 1,000 people gathered on Newark Avenue tonight to protest recent moves by President Trump that target illegal immigration and clamp down on refugee admissions.

Waving signs reading "resist" and "friend of Islam," the crowd roundly booed any mentions of Trump and, after prodding from one of the roughly dozen speakers, repeatedly yelled "you're fired," Trump's catchphrase from the reality show he once hosted. A woman named Susan Forte held up a side that read, with the letters bordered in white lights, "NO."

The rally was organized as a response to a flurry of executive orders Trump, a Republican, signed in his first week of office, notably one from Friday that curtailed refugee admissions. That order sparked protests at airports nationwide as some refugees and others were detained at U.S. airports.

LatinoJustice President Juan Cartagena, who is expected to be one of the first members of the new city Immigrant Affairs Commission, urged the crowd assembled on and around the Newark Avenue pedestrian plaza to chant "resistance" in Spanish.



"Resistance, resistencia, dissent are as American as apple pie," Cartagena said.

Trump's orders have galvanized public officials in Jersey City, where about 40 percent of the population is foreign born and where the leaders are almost all liberal Democrats. Experts estimate that 10 percent of the city's 264,000 population entered the country illegally.

Mayor Steve Fulop told the crowd that the fight to restrict refugee admissions is personal for him because his mother's sister and other family members were executed by Nazis during the Holocaust.

This nation's values, Fulop said, are not Trump's values.

"We are going to resist this every step of the way," he said to cheers.

There was heavy security tonight, with numerous police officers near the platform where speakers stood and at least one watching from the second-floor window of a nearby business. Fulop had two cops acting as security guards.

Michael Billy, a local activist who organized tonight's rally, said Trump's actions have ignited a new protest movement.

"We've been born," Billy said to the crowd. "We've been activated."

Trump's order on Friday suspends all refugee admission for 120 days, and Syrian refugees indefinitely. It also suspends entry of immigrants and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries for at least 90 days. In a statement, the president denied that the order targets Muslims.

"To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting," Trump wrote. "This is not about religion -- this is about terror and keeping our country safe."

There aren't many Trump supporters in Jersey City, which voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November's presidential race. But one Trump voter was on Newark Avenue tonight watching protesters assemble: Robert Ryan, 50, of Jersey City, who said he's not against all Muslims and neither is Trump.

"He's against the Muslims coming from the areas that have been sending" terrorists to America, Ryan said. "Nobody here is against Muslims, including myself. But I am against them not being stopped at the border."

Trump has also issued an executive order that threatens to cut off some federal aid to so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in identifying people who have entered the United States illegally. Immigration advocates do not consider Jersey City a true sanctuary city, but Fulop, a Democrat, told The Jersey Journal today that he is drafting his own executive order to expand protections for Jersey City residents in this country illegally.

Asked whether Trump should not be allowed to enact policies he pledged to enact when he was campaigning to be the nation's chief executive, Fulop said, "I don't think that this is consistent with our values. I mean, I still can't get over the fact that this guy's the president."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.