Immigration policies were among the major focal points.

Michelle Petrie, a retail worker participating in the demonstrations, criticized "the cruel treatment of people who've come to live in this country from other countries". She carried a butterfly model, explaining its significance to China Daily.

"May Day is International Workers Day. ... And the butterfly symbolizes, like, freedom," she said. "Also, this kind of butterfly is a monarch that migrates. ... And so, it's a sign of those things: immigration, beauty, freedom."

Petrie said the economy is "in the toilet" and predicted growing public anger.

Betty Lee Hawks, a retired 35-year federal employee who worked at the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health, told China Daily that she was concerned about the functioning of the federal government itself and the impact of policy changes on specific communities. Hawks specifically criticized efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

"What gets rolled under that umbrella is decades of work to deal with health disparities," she said, explaining that the work addressed differences "in the incidence of disease and how people access services".

Hawks noted that historically, research data, particularly from clinical trials, skewed heavily toward white males, leaving gaps in understanding health outcomes for women and racial and ethnic minorities.