The La Lucha Sigue protest was organized by Culturas de las Razas Unidas (CRU) in response to the construction of mass detention facilities as the Supreme Court paves the way for racial profiling as grounds for immigration stops. Despite being named on the Department of Justice's list of cities that override national immigration laws, East Lansing remains a sanctuary city.

"La Lucha Sigue means the fight is ever going," CRU president Rafael Gordillo Serrano said in a speech to the crowd. "La Lucha Sigue because it's more than a month. La Lucha Sigue because dignity and respect for us should not be questioned. La Lucha Sigue because when have we ever given up? We are the hands that feed America, the shoulders that build these cities, the minds that build innovation, from small business owners like my mother to Supreme Court justices like Sonia Sotomayor."

It's more important now than ever to speak up, because "to be a Latino in the United States is to live with a target on your back," Gordillo Serrano said. "You can't simply ignore this hate no matter our individual statuses — we are all under attack."

A variety of MSU students, faculty and local residents joined in support of Gordillo Serrano’s message. Though most heard about the protest by being a part of CRU or after seeing a promotional post on Instagram, a few joined after hearing Latin music playing from the Capitol steps.

Lansing-based Damauria Beard, 25, had been walking across the Capitol lawn when she spotted CRU members arranging posters. The protest "called" to her, she said. 

"I believe in the sign that I picked up, ‘Dreams are not illegal,’" Beard said. "I have a lot of dreams, and if someone told me that I couldn't dream anymore, I would be very upset."

Beard believes the citizenship process needs to be reworked, saying it "makes no sense" that immigrants who have labored and paid taxes in the U.S. must take a test and pay fees to be considered a citizen. 

The protestors carry with them a "powerful message," she said.

Paulo Gordillo, the associate director of the Office of College Access Initiatives, recalled cleaning floors with his father, who hailed from Mexico with an architectural engineering degree the U.S. didn't recognize. The buffers they used to clean the floors would swing Gordillo around as a child, a reminder that the work families like his did were the "literal backbone" of the nation.

"We've labored," he said. "We've taken on jobs and responsibilities that folks never want. We're the ones who toil."

Gordillo commended the protestors for their effort and emphasized the need to push back.

"When I talk to my students in both my classes that I mentor, I always remind them that hungry people don't stay hungry," Gordillo said.

Michael Griffor, an integrated science and secondary education fifth year student, primarily led the march throughout downtown Lansing, making his "heart race." Griffor wasn’t aware of events like this when he was a freshman at MSU, but participating in the protest was "beautiful."

"I was passing by here yesterday, and I was the only colored person on this grass or in this vicinity," Griffor said. "Now, this is just a much more beautiful picture, a more diverse crowd being in front of this Capitol building. We need more of that."

It's important to speak up in support of those who no longer can, he added.

Gordillo Serrano shared a similar sentiment: "Our strongest weapon is community, and we have that when we're being silenced. Let's shout louder in the face of fear, we have each other, la lucha sigue."