Mark Ruffalo has claimed billionaires and ‘white people’ are creating more problems in the United States than illegal immigrants.
The Avengers actor attended a No Kings Day protest in New York City on Saturday to speak out against President Donald Trump‘s immigration enforcement.
Ruffalo, an outspoken liberal, was seen wearing a hat with the word ‘Immigrant’ emblazoned on it.
He argued that the migrants the Trump administration is targeting in its ICE raids are good people – and that wealthy Americans and ‘white people’ are the ones who are committing crimes.
‘We get to see who is really making our lives unbearable and making us so desperate,’ he told the activist group New York Immigration Coalition at the scene. ‘It’s not the immigrants, it’s the billionaires.’
Ruffalo, whom Finance Monthly estimates has a net worth of $90 million, then went on to claim Trump and conservatives are wrongfully scapegoating migrants for the problems created by white Americans and billionaires.
‘We’re seeing what’s happening,’ he said.
‘First of all, we’re understanding that the immigrants aren’t the criminals. If you look at the statistics, most of the crimes committed in this country are by white people – non immigrants,’ the actor claimed, adding that immigrants ‘add to our economy by the billions.’
The Spotlight star concluded his remarks by saying: ‘It’s time to take our country back from that extreme wealth that has its hands all over the power of the nation, and become a beautiful, burgeoning democracy that works for the people, not just the very wealthy.’
Ruffalo repeated those sentiments in prepared remarks at the massive protest.
‘Sadly, today Donald Trump and the administration of billionaires, crackpots and ICE brigades have taken over,’ he lamented.
‘We have a king and his court and his beige henchmen – and they’re trampling on our rights and our laws and our freedoms, making themselves richer with taxpayer dollars and making us less safe with their love of other kings and dictators and the likes of Putin and Netanyahu and Kim Jong Un of the world.’
He then concluded by declaring that the protesters who took to the streets ‘are the Avengers’ as they are not afraid to fight.
The protest on Saturday drew boisterous crowds marching, dancing, drumming and chanting shoulder-to-shoulder in New York, as well as cities like Denver, Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles.
In some places, organizers handed out little American flags while others flew their flags upside down, a sign of distress.
Mexican flags which have become a fixture of the Los Angeles protests against immigration raids, also made an appearance at some of the demonstrations.
But the Trump administration has claimed the migrants it is rounding up are convicted criminals.
‘The Trump Administration will fulfill the President’s promise to deport illegal aliens and no one – not even violent left-wing rioters – will get in the way of our mission,’ White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Mail last week.
‘ICE is arresting illegal aliens and will continue to do so all around the country no matter what radical liberals do, the safety of the American people depends on it,’ she said.