Immigration protests: Thousands rally to condemn Trump policies

– Mass rallies are being held across the country Saturday as protesters call for an end to President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has left children separated from their parents at the border. Demonstrators in white clergy robes linked arms across the street and chanted “reunite”, others waving signs that bore slogans, among them, “Stop separating families”. “Concentration camps?” Some in Denver donned foil blankets like the ones given to children in Texas detention centers.

Trump agreed to rescind the separation part of the policy, but opponents say the administration has no plan for the speedy reunification of those families. Drivers honked their horns in support. Elizabeth Warren of MA joined in solidarity with the protesters.

Earlier this week, a judge in California ordered the families to be reunited within 30 days.

“We have to let them know we will not accept this”, McKinnon said.

State Senator Nancy Skinner said the family-separation policy follows in the footsteps of the country’s most condemned historical travesties, including slavery, the removal of Native American children and Japanese American internment.

People carried handmade signs, including one that read, “Don’t have a heart of I.C.E”. Ocampo said he was pleased the Families Belong Together rally was “a complete success”. “We have a situation where the Trump administration seems to be aiming to detain families”, said Karthik Ganapathy, a MoveOn.org spokesman.

The events were mostly peaceful, but a few arrests were reported in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio.

The Washington protest was to begin in Lafayette Square – directly across from the White House – before a march toward the Capitol.

A number of celebrities have also expressed their support, including actresses Julianne Moore, America Ferrara and Natalie Portman, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the hit musical Hamilton.

The sit-in of protesting women was organized by two liberal groups, Women’s March and the Center for Popular Democracy.

With temperatures hovering in the 90s in downtown Washington, organizers made repeated calls to the crowd to drink water and use sunscreen. At one point Sen. Several demonstrators needed medical attention.

Elizabeth Warren deplored the president and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an agency. He urged ICE agents to “not worry or lose your spirit”.

Trump took to Twitter to defend his stance on immigration saying people who cross the border “illegally” must be “immediately” taken back.

Immigrants made up about one in 20 US residents in 1970.

“Las familias merecen estar unidos, ” said another.

“It’s an abomination what’s going on”, she said. That resulted in more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents. She said she felt obliged by her faith to participate.

“I’m not a radical, and I’m not an activist”, said Kate Sharaf, a Portland co-organizer. “I could only imagine what it would be like to have my daughter – my breastfeeding child – ripped away from me the way some of these other moms’ babies have been”.

The interpretation means immigrant families could spend months or even years in detention – even those seeking asylum – because of a years-long backlog in immigration court.

The New York Times wrote on Friday that the protests are a galvanizing moment for those who want to see an end the to the “odious” practice of separating children from their parents. “I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this”, said Jess Morales Rocketto, political director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which represents nannies, housekeepers and caregivers, many of whom are immigrants.

“I care! Do you?” read Joan Culwell’s T-shirt as she joined a boisterous rally in Denver.

Before setting off on the march, Harrisburg City Council member Shamaine Daniels shared her thoughts on the president and the way his administration is treating immigrants.

Trump did not directly comment on the protests Saturday afternoon, but defended his “zero tolerance” policy in a tweet.

The protestors chanted “abolish ICE” as well as “where are the children?” as well as other chants that are hard to hear within the building.

Parthemer agreed with her friend that the way Mexican families are being separated is wrong and came to the rally to take a stand against it.