Major cities, tiny towns host immigration policy protests
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Washington — They wore white. They shook their fists in the air. They carried signs reading: "No more children in cages," and "What's next? Concentration Camps?"
In major cities and tiny towns, thousands of marchers gathered across America, moved by accounts of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, in the latest act of mass resistance against President Donald Trump's immigration policies.
"I'm hoping that decent human beings come together, and enough is enough, we're taking out country back over, that evil is not going to prevail," said Patricia Carlan, a grandmother of nine from Danville, Indiana, among hundreds who gathered at her state's capital.
More than 700 planned marches drew hundreds of thousands of people across the country, from immigrant-friendly cities like New York and Los Angeles to conservative Appalachia and Indiana to the front lawn of a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, near a detention center where migrant children were being held in cages.
There, people held American and Texas flags and signs depicting a migrant father, mother and child as the Holy Family with haloed heads traveling through the desert.
In New York City, Trump's hometown, thousands of marchers poured across the Brooklyn Bridge in sweltering 90-degree heat, chanting "shame!" and "Donald Trump must go!" Drivers honked their horns in support.
"It's important for this administration to know that these policies that rip apart families —that treat people as less than human, like they're vermin— are not the way of God, they are not the law of love," said the Rev. Julie Hoplamazian, an Episcopal priest marching in Brooklyn, whose own grandparents fled to the U.S. during the Armenian genocide.
"Jesus was a refuge," she said.
In Washington, a massive crowd gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House in what was expected to be the largest of the day's protests.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the musical "Hamilton," sang a lullaby dedicated to parents who are unable to sing to their children. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys brought her 7-year-old son, and read a letter written by a woman whose child had been taken away from her at the border.
"It's upsetting. Families being separated, children in cages," said Emilia Ramos, a cleaner in the district, fighting tears at the rally. "Seeing everyone together for this cause, it's emotional."
Around her, thousands waved signs: "I care, do you?" some read, referencing a jacket the first lady wore when visiting child migrants amid the global furor over the administration's zero-tolerance policy that forced the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents. Her jacket had "I really don't care, do U?" scrawled across the back, and that message has become a rallying cry for Saturday's protesters.
"We care!" marchers shouted outside city hall in Dallas. Organizer Michelle Wentz says opposition to the administration's "barbaric and inhumane" policy has seemed to cross political party lines. Marchers' signs read "Compassion not cruelty" and "November is coming."
Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to show his support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid calls from some Democrats for major changes to immigration enforcement.
Tweeting from New Jersey, Trump said that Democrats "are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen." He urged ICE agents to "not worry or lose your spirit."
Though many who show up to the rallies across the country were seasoned anti-Trump demonstrators, others were new to immigration activism, including parents who say they feel compelled to show up after heart-wrenching accounts of children forcibly taken from their families as they crossed the border illegally. In Portland, Oregon, for example, several stay-at-home moms have organized their first rally while caring for young kids.
"I'm not a radical, and I'm not an activist," said Kate Sharaf, a Portland co-organizer. "I just reached a point where I felt I had to do more."
Immigrant advocacy groups say they're thrilled to see the issue gaining traction.
"Honestly, I am blown away. 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. "
All across the country, groups came together in city parks and downtown squares, and photos quickly started ricocheting around social media.
Some carried tiny white onesies. "What if it was your child?" was written on one. "No family jails," said another.
Other protesters converged on the international bridge that carries traffic between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. They carried signs with slogans like "We are all immigrants" as they chanted "Love, not hate, makes America great."
Marchers gathered in Raleigh, in Pittsburgh, in Louisville, in Houston, in Antler, North Dakota, population 27.
Margarita Perez held up a Mexican flag as speakers addressed the crowd in Albuquerque. She said she was worried about the children taken from their families, and their parents left without knowing how to find them.
"Those children that they are incarcerating and separating, they are our future generations. We need to provide for these children," she said. "They will be our future leaders."
The city's Democratic mayor took the microphone and declared they were there to "resist," and the crowd erupted in a roar.
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Associated Press reporters Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Emily Schmall in McAllen, Texas, Amy Taxin in Los Angeles, Rick Callahan in Indianapolis, Ryan Tarinelli in Dallas, Bob Lentz and Ron Todt in Philadelphia, Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky, and Julie Walker, Michael Sisak and Gillian Flaccus in New York City contributed to this report.
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Am I missing it or is this subject yet to be covered here?
Here are the essential facts:
Saturday's rallies are getting funding and support from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and The Leadership Conference. But local organizers are shouldering on-the-ground planning, many of them women relying on informal networks established during worldwide women's marches on Trump's inauguration and its anniversary.
Please note when the Obama administration went through the same process we heard not a peep from the media or any of the radical organizations listed above
Obama had a D behind his name. You wouldn't have heard a peep if Hillary had won. The media and the left would have put their blinders on and attacked anyone with the temerity to question the sanctity of the presidency- much the less stage a protest of any kind.
They are praying that this is the issue that will bring Trump down. Forget they ignored the problem during the last eight years. Forget that they have already stated they will not work to fix the problem with the law that was written by a Democrat in Congress.
They still haven't figured out they need to run a viable candidate- and a viable campaign. No calling the opposition "deplorables". No ignoring campaigning in fly over country to raise money on the leftist coasts. Oh, and find someone that is less hated than Trump. Shouldn't be too hard to do- unless they cue up the Hillary machine for a third failed attempt.
Get ready, the hypocritical faux outrage has only just begun.
You wouldn't have heard a peep if Hillary had won.
It turns out Ms sleaze was ahead of the radical left on open borders:
"Mrs. Clinton ’s dream for America looks a lot like the European Union. She reportedly told investors in a paid speech to Brazilian Banco Itau in 2013: “My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that’s as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.” Without borders, there are no countries, including the United States."
They are praying that this is the issue that will bring Trump down. Forget they ignored the problem during the last eight years. Forget that they have already stated they will not work to fix the problem with the law that was written by a Democrat in Congress.
And forgetting that although most people have sympathy for the migrant families, they also want the borders secure. I think progressives forget that their ideology only accounts for approx 20% of the electorate. The remainder of their base is voting for the benefits dems provide.
They still haven't figured out they need to run a viable candidate- and a viable campaign. No calling the opposition "deplorables". No ignoring campaigning in fly over country to raise money on the leftist coasts
You got it! They've lost any sense of putting together a meaningful strategy to win an election. Their hatred of Trump has taken over their thinking. Trump exposed their souls (or lack thereof) to all of us. Funny how he does that to liberals.
G et ready, the hypocritical faux outrage has only just begun.
Yup, and Trump voters will be running to the polls!
There is a simple solution to keep families together. Don't break the law. In this case, crossing the border at a point that isn't a port of entry is breaking the law. Now as far as the treatment of the people, they are treated just like any other convict in this country. If I, a US citizen, breaks the law, I am detained and separated from my family. Why would somebody who, ISN'T a US citizen, receive special treatment? No, it's not because they are "seeking asylum". If they were truly seeking asylum there are 10 facilities in Mexico that they should have stopped at. But they chose bypass them to get to the border, then cross it ILLEGALLY.
The "Trump policy" is actually Bill Clinton's, George Bush's and Barak Obama's policy as well. But nobody said a word when this happened under those administrations. I wonder why?
Now as far as the protesters. For me, they will become relevant if each one of them took a so called "families" home. Until then, they are just like a child whose mother won't let them have candy and throws a temper tantrum.
Keep Families Together!
Deport Them At The Same Time!