May Day protests planned for Thursday in South Florida and across the nation are directed at scolding President Donald Trump for his administration's deportation policies, his massive layoffs of federal worker and his drastic funding cuts to scores of federal government programs.
The “May Day Strong: We are the Many” planned protests in South Florida include a long list of cities: Miami, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Boca Raton, Key Largo, Key West, Marathon and West Palm Beach.
“[Elon] Musk, Trump and their fellow profiteers are trying to create a race to the bottom—on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself,” said organizers in a statement. “They want to erase labor rights, break our unions, and silence immigrant voices.”
“They’re defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence,” the organizers said. “This is a war on working people — and we will not stand down.”
READ MORE: President Trump's first 100 days marked by DOGE, tariffs and deportation
Celine McNicholas, the Economic Policy Institute's director of policy and government affairs/general counsel, a progressive Washington, D.C.-based think tank, issued a report last week listing blasting Trump's policies during his first 100 days in office.
“In just 100 days, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the global economy, workers’ rights and retirement savings, and government offices that administer fundamental programs like Social Security and Medicare," McNicholas said in a statement. "The results have been disastrous for everyone but his billionaire advisors.”
Trump and Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have sought to reshape the federal government workforce by slashing hundreds of thousands of jobs and reducing the federal debt, which is more than $36 trillion.
Trump's aggressive deportation policy is part of his presidential campaign pledge to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and expel millions of undocumented immigrants from the U.S. An estimated 10 million to 11 million people live in the U.S. without legal residency.
His administration's strict immigration policies have pushed the boundaries of the judiciary, and its protectionist import taxes imposed on America's trade partners have also sought to reorder a global economy that the U.S. built in the decades after World War II.
Meanwhile, government-slashing efforts led by billionaire adviser Musk have shaken Washington to its core.
“After a lifetime of unelected bureaucrats stealing your paychecks, attacking your values and trampling your freedoms, we are stopping their gravy train, ending their power trip and telling thousands of corrupt, incompetent and unnecessary deep state bureaucrats, ‘You’re fired!'” Trump said.
Only about 4 in 10 Americans approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, and his ratings on the economy and trade are lower than that. Additionally, just 46% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's immigration policies, with about half of Americans saying he has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the country illegally.
Just 33% of Americans, meanwhile, have a favorable view of Musk, the Tesla CEO and the world's richest person, and about half believe the administration has gone too far in working to pare back the government workforce.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
