Tacoma: Hundreds march to the Northwest Detention Center on May Day
By Talison Crosby and Claire Thomas
Tacoma, WA – Several hundred people took to the streets of Tacoma on May 1 to rally for immigrants and workers’ rights. The crowd gathered around 4 p.m. and began chanting with messages such as “Stand up and shut it down, Tacoma is a union town!” and “Power to the people! No one is illegal!” Energy was high, and the mood of the event was celebratory.
The rally opened on Tacoma’s downtown Theater Plaza, with speeches from union members, immigrant rights activists, and tenant organizers. Nearly 40 organizations endorsed the event, including Teamsters Local 117, Washington State Nurses Association, Indivisible Tacoma, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Malaya Tacoma, and many more.
“I think May Day is the sickest holiday ever created,” said one attendee, Edgar Alvarez. “I’m here to contribute to the workers’ movement first and foremost. We’re in a spot right now where we need to start building momentum.”
The program at Theater Square concluded with a performance of Solidarity Forever by local protest band Bugs for Change. The crowd then moved into the street and marched first up the hill to Tacoma City Hall.
The crowd continued with chants such as “Union jobs and education, we will fight for liberation!” and “Stop the deportations!”
“Immigrant workers were on the front lines of the Haymarket affair, they were on the front lines of the 2006 megamarches and continue to be on the front lines of labor struggles across the country,” said Rie Guerrero of Pierce County Immigration Alliance. “The reason we’re stopping here at Tacoma City Hall is because one of the entities reaping profits from the abuse of our immigrant neighbors is our very own city government. The city of Tacoma has invested its retirement system in a mutual fund that has holdings in GEO Group, meaning it has banked its employees' financial futures on the continued profitability of concentration camps like the Northwest Detention Center.”
After that rousing speech, the crowd marched back down the hill towards the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC).
“We’re marching to demand justice for the immigrants that are in detainment in the NWDC,” said Moon Gosserand, emcee of the coalition event. “We must always, even if we don’t know them personally, stand up for the people that need it.”
The planned route to the NWDC crossed Tacoma’s 11th Street bridge, and, as protesters approached the bridge, members of the Tacoma Police Department started forming barricades to block the marchers from continuing on their route. However, the marshal team refused to turn back and pushed through. Eventually the police relented and the protesters continued as planned, completely shutting down the 11th Street bridge.
Chanting continued as the crowd made their way to the NWDC, including chants such as ““When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “Shut it down! Shut it tight! Workers of the world unite!”
Upon arrival at the NWDC, the crowd continued chanting and the program resumed on the street outside the detention center. There were more songs and speeches, including one from Maximo Londonio, a member of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 695, who was imprisoned by ICE in May 2025.
One attendee reflected on the crowd which had marched nearly two miles from the starting location, “It’s really cool to see so many people from Tacoma uniting and showing up,” said Sterling Peel, a band leader with Bugs for Change and general member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “It really shows that this is a working-class town for the working-class people, and we have a strong working-class movement, and I love to see it.”
The program concluded with a song offered by members of Tangoll Migrante Movement which included the refrain “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” Many attendees vowed to continue fighting.
“Bottom line is, get in the streets!” said Alvarez. “If you’re not in the streets, get in the streets.”