On Tuesday, two groups of Philadelphians took action to express their opposition to President Trump’s recent declaration of a national emergency at the country’s southern border.

Organized by the activist organizations, Make the Road PA and By The People, respectively, the concerned citizens visited the offices of their local representatives in Congress, Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans, to demand pushback against the president’s overreach.

“We know that Brendan Boyle is an ally, but we want to make sure he is doing everything he can to commit to fighting for our communities, to fight against this fake national emergency, because we organize in the most vulnerable communities, in some of the poorest areas in Kensington, immigrant communities, and it matters a lot to us that he fight for us,” Katia Perez, a lead organizer with Make the Road PA, told AL DÍA.

Perez said she hopes that Boyle will sign on to a resolution introduced by Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, to terminate the national emergency. As of Friday, Castro had 60 co-sponsors for the legislation.

For his part, Congressman Boyle released a statement last Friday condemning Trump’s action.

“President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border is a disturbing abuse of power to serve his political aims,” Boyle said.

“I will do everything in my power to ensure this flagrant power grab is not successful and our democracy remains strong for generations to come,” he added.

At Congressman Evans’ office, activists held an #ImpeachThePresidentDay gathering. Joining them was Fernando Treviño, an at-large candidate for Philadelphia’s upcoming City Council elections.

"I've worked at the border, I know what goes on there. President Trump’s decision to declare a fake 'national emergency' to fund a wall at the US-Mexico border is a slap in the face of any American who believes that we live in the land of opportunity,” Treviño told AL DÍA.

“His decision will pull resources from natural disaster relief in Puerto Rico, and will prohibit money from being spent to fix our public schools, repair our roads and bridges, and  provide affordable health care for Philadelphians,” he added.

Since the president declared the national emergency last Friday, a slew of lawsuits have been filed challenging the action, including one by a coalition of 16 states.