Women’s March Founder Emiliana Guereca on Donald Trump, Immigration and Her Next March

Get ready to march! Donald Trump’s immigration policy of separating children from their parents who are crossing the United States border to ask for asylum has sparked international outage. As images of kids in cages and video of children screaming as they’re taken away from their families play out in the media, Trump continues to blame the Democrats for the situation (even though the House of Representatives, Senate and White House are Republican controlled) and defends his zero tolerance stance.

For those who oppose what many are calling a humanitarian crisis now is your chance to protest and make your voice heard. On June 28th-30th there will be a nationwide action that anyone can join led by the co-founder of the Women’s March Los Angeles Emiliana Guereca.

“The whole thing is Un-American and is the stuff of nightmares. We are being lied to by this administration. As a Latina growing up illegal I can tell you that the PTSD inflicted by deportations and separation of families never goes away. What is happening to these families, children is inhumane and a violation of Human Rights. We as a country go around bombing other countries over Human Rights violations but stay silent when it is happening in our country? This administration is scapegoating. This is not just about Trump, this is an entire administration letting this happen. The Nazi’s defense of “just following orders” is in play here and we have to ask ourselves Who are we as humans? What do we stand for?,” Guereca exclusively told The Voluntourist.

“People are scared and if that was their goal….They have succeeded. We are on the wrong side of history here,” she added.

Guereca was a successful event planner in Los Angeles and wasn’t really into politics, but when Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, that changed. Her focus from running her business shifted when the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality star began spewing hateful rhetoric during his campaign. Guereca knew she had to something so she took a stand and built a massive movement– the Women’s March Los Angeles.

The event in 2017 drew an estimated 750,000 people and celebrity speakers addressed the crowd, included actresses Viola Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Laverne Cox. A year and a half later Guerecais is still fighting to empower women and standing up to Trump.

The Voluntourist: I understand one of the reasons why you wanted to create the Women’s March was because when you were growing up in Chicago you lived in segregated neighborhoods and then when Trump came into office you saw how divisive he was. Can you talk about that?

Emiliana Guereca: I was seeing the rhetoric come out against immigrants being rapists, being thieves, and being criminals. I’m personally not a criminal and neither is my huge family. I come from a really hard-working family, so saying we were criminals was insulting all around. For me, I knew what was coming. I knew we would have deportations. I knew that we being labeled criminals based on the color of our skin and that wasn’t okay.

The Voluntourist: Where did the idea of the Women’s March come from?

Emiliana Guereca: I saw it coming through Washington D.C., but I’ve traveled extensively and marched in Argentina and Mexico. So for it to come to the United States, I wanted to make sure that I was involved in that and I wanted to make sure that it was inclusive. For me, I felt like I would be left out if I didn’t step up into the role, so I’m glad I did.

The Voluntourist: Did you realize the march was going to draw as many as it did?

Emiliana Guereca: I knew it was going to be big, but not quite that big. So I was a community organizer before that. I could mobilize 10,000 people for a 10K or chili cook off, but not necessarily political. I wasn’t political. But I did feel it growing as more people started asking what they could do from all walks of life and all parts of LA, so I could see it getting bigger.

The Voluntourist: How did you feel when you saw the amazing results?

Emiliana Guereca: It was our work, it wasn’t me by myself. But it was more like now what? I have this email of people who want to do more that marched and want me to do more. So I needed to structure and needed to figure out where my place was in this arena. I didn’t want to do just one march. I want to build political power for women and that’s key for me.

The Voluntourist: Who inspires you?

Emiliana Guereca: My mom. She had 13 kids with no money. She kept working forward and all of her kids are highly successful. She had a third grade education, but she made anything possible. If she can do it, I can do it. She instilled a work ethic. Weekends were not for relaxing, we did more work. So the work ethic mom instilled in me is something I always carry with me.

The Voluntourist: What do you think needs to happen now? Trump is still in office for a while?

Emiliana Guereca: I think he’s still dividing people, but that’s out there. Out here I think we’re united. We have figured out that we need to have a space. We need to build political power and now we’re phone banking and canvasing and doing whatever we can to change the tide. I think in some ways he has united us.

The Voluntourist: I know you were upset by Trump’s rhetoric, but it’s one thing to be angry and it’s another thing to actually do something about it. So what was the turning point for you where you jumped into action?

Emiliana Guereca: I’ve always been a doer. I’ve always stood up for other people. I’ve always been that type of person, but I think for me I have two little boys. My oldest one said someone at school told him he was going to get deported. I’ve always been really proud to say I’m Mexican and so is he, so he was like, “Mom are they deporting all of the Mexicans?” I was like, “Let’s talk about how that works,” then there was no going back for me. When I’m 80 and when we talk about at this time what were you doing I want to be able to say we were fighting that and making sure that wasn’t part of you growing up.

The Voluntourist: What are you doing next?

Emiliana Guereca: We just finished being part of the United State of Women Conference. For me what’s next is actually flipping the house, but also building a pipeline of political people that look like us and look like you. Currently I don’t have anything in common with a 70-year-old white guy, but that’s who is making all of the rules for us. I think if we start looking to build a pipeline of these political young leaders of different races and social economic statues, I think that’s our way out.

Information has now been updated for the June 28th protest. This message is from the Women’s March Los Angeles Facebook page. Please read below. 

On June 28 Women’s March Los Angeles will kick off National Movements for Detained Children with a rally at City Hall to demand that the Trump administration stop separating families. We will call on all politicians, activists and citizens to rise up and demand that the “Zero-Tolerance” immigration policy that was put into practice by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April be stopped and that the subsequent actions of tearing apart children and detaining them in horrible conditions while their parents are prosecuted and deported is not acceptable.

For more information follow @wmnsmarchla