Resistance Groups Protest #TrumpShutdown as Women's March Begins Weekend of Action

This post has been updated.

As Americans woke up to the news on Saturday morning that the government had shut down over night, resistance groups and lawmakers urged citizens to mobilize against the Republican Party's refusal to include protections for young undocumented immigrants in a spending bill.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), one of the most vocal Trump critics in Congress, called on the thousands of people expected to attend events marking the first anniversary of the Women's March to voice their anger over the shutdown.

Meanwhile, MoveOn.org sent an email to its supporters urging them to organize or attend "speak-out" events next Monday through Wednesday.

"Trump is tweeting up a storm to pass blame for his shutdown off onto Democrats because they stood strong for Dreamers and resisted his radical agenda," wrote the group. "But we won't stand for it--and MoveOn members and our allies are going to show up at speak-out actions across the country this next week to demand that the GOP end the #TrumpShutdown and get back to work to pass the Dream Act and fund CHIP."

If lawmakers are unable to reach a temporary spending deal this weekend funding the government through February, the full government shutdown impacting "non-essential" federal offices will go into effect Monday.

Events in Santa Ana, California and Socorro, New Mexico were confirmed shortly after MoveOn.org made its appeal, while the group's Washington director, Ben Wikler, announced plans for protests at representatives' and senators' offices across the country.

As thousands took the streets across the country on Saturday for the first day of Women's March events, many protesters carried signs alluding to Democrats' demand for a clean DREAM Act, protecting young undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for much of their lives, as well as children's health insurance, as part of any deal to fund the government.

Trump took note of the protesters who gathered by the thousands on Saturday, reminding his Twitter followers that "female unemployment" is currently low and appearing to feign ignorance regarding the Women's March's mission.

The unemployment rate for women began falling steadily in 2012, five years before Mr. Trump took office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of marchers gathered in cities around the world, ahead of Sunday's main event in Las Vegas. An estimated 120,000 men and women filled the streets of New York. Officials in other cities were still tallying numbers on Saturday. Images of the march in Washington, D.C. looked not unlike those from 2017, when the city's streets were filled with 400,000 demonstrators.