Immigration protests all across US
WASHINGTON: Tens of thousands of people descended on cities from coasttocoast across the United States yesterday in ‘‘Families Belong Together’’ rallies to protest against the Trump administration’s ‘‘zero tolerance’’ immigration policy that left more than 2000 children separated from their parents at the USMexico border.
In the nation’s capital, thousands poured into Lafayette Square, across from the White House, to chant ‘‘We care’’ and ‘‘No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA’’.
Protesters waved signs in English and Spanish. The slogan on one English sign demanded, ‘‘Where are the children?’’
Another sign said, ‘‘Melania & Ivanka, stop the child abuse’’.
While President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump avoided the chants in Washington, the protests followed them to their retreat in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Only a few miles from Trump National Golf Course, more than 100 protesters lined the side of a major New Jersey highway waving antiTrump signs and chanting, ‘‘Where are the children?’’
Jack Gavin, of West Caldwell, New Jersey, handed out miniature copies of the US Constitution, ‘‘Facts Matter’’ pins and cold drinks. He said he also planned to attend rallies in Newark and Clifton, NJ.
In Washington, Shelley Kohl, a retired business owner from Johnson City, Tennessee, said she did not usually engage in politics, but the images of children being separated from their parents motivated her to travel to Washington for yesterday’s protests.
‘‘Kids don’t belong in cages. Families don’t belong in cages, and kids absolutely don’t belong being removed from their families,’’ Kohl said.
In Atlanta, Democrat Representative John Lewis, the civil rights activist who once marched with the Rev Martin Luther King, roused the crowd with by imploring the protesters: ‘‘Don’t give up, don’t give in — keep marching’’. He said all Americans — Asian, black, white, Hispanic — trace their heritage to immigrants.
In New York City, protesters at a Manhattan park chanted ‘‘shame!’’ and ‘‘shut detention down’’ as they geared up to march across the Brooklyn bridge to Cadman Plaza, near the federal courthouse.
Rallies were also under way at midmorning in El Paso and Atlanta, and communities big and small.
In Dallas, hundreds turned out downtown Dallas to call for a clear plan to reunify families separated the administration policy. Protest organiser Michelle Wentz said opposition to the policy seemed to cross political party lines.
A June 18 CBS News poll showed 67% of Americans found separating undocumented immigrant children and parents at the border ‘‘unacceptable.’’