‘End zero-humanity immigration policy’
PROTESTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY JOIN MORE THAN 750 MARCHES AGAINST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
The rally began with drums and a reminder that the story of most Americans began somewhere else. A representative of the Piscataway Indian Nation addressed a crowd of hundreds assembled in Lafayette Square on Saturday in Spanish, then English. He burnt tobacco, an Indian prayer tradition, said a prayer and then sang an indigenous-language song from Bolivia that means, “take courage.”
As people continued to file into Lafayette Square, holding signs and wearing the white requested of organisers, it seemed the protest would be smaller than initial estimates of as many as 50,000 in Washington.
The crowd in the overflow space was sparse. People who arrived expecting to be too late to secure a spot near the stage began walking closer, toward Lafayette Square.
Among the protesters were many immigrants — some whose families came long ago, and others much more recently arrived. Those near the stage cheered loudly and shouted “Bienvenidos,” or “Welcome,” as one of the latter, a woman named Jocelyn, took the microphone.
Jocelyn, who did not give her last name, entered the US with her son in August of last year. That’s when it happened to her, she said: The two were separated.
Held in a detention facility in Texas, Jocelyn she didn’t know where her child was for the first two months, she said. Authorities at the facility told her he could be relinquished for adoption, she said, as audible gasps came from the crowd.
“I spent many days sick and without hope,” she said in Spanish. “I wanted to join this fight to get my son back and for all the mothers who are suffering so far away from their children.”
It took nine months to be reunited with her son, she said, during which time she entered a lawsuit as a plaintiff with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Protesters had begun gathering around 9am yesterday, in anticipation of large crowds and a long day ahead: a two-hour rally starting at 11am followed by a march to the Department of Justice. About 750 similar “Families Belong Together” protests had been planned throughout the country in every state, from big cities such as New York and Los Angeles to tiny ones such as Antler, North Dakota, population 28.
The message: End President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has split children from their parents and detained whole families crossing the southern US border.
Speakers
Several speakers, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the musical Hamilton, and actors America Ferrera and Diane Guerrero, were expected to take the stage. People who have lived through the Holocaust, Japanese internment camps and Trump’s family separation policy also are expected to speak.
“We have three main demands,” said Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org, which co-sponsored the event. “Reunite families now, end family internment camps, and end the zero-humanity policy that created this humanitarian crisis and chaos in the first place.”
Ellen Sullivan, 63, was among the early arrivals. She took a drag from her cigarette and crushed it beneath her heel as she sat on a park bench yesterday morning in Lafayette Square. Her white shirt read “Mad as Hell,” and she held a handmade sign reading “For the least among us.”
“This was a tipping point,” said Sullivan, a professor who splits her time between McLean, Virginia, and Miami. “It’s been a frustrating two years — but there are concentration camps for babies in our country right now, and that’s terrifying.” At around 10:30, four students from William and Mary stood in a semi-circle talking, waiting for other members of their student organisation, UndocuTribe, to arrive.
A crowd of worshippers from the Unitarian Universalists United for Social Justice huddled together and prayed before marching to the rally.
Though the rally is taking place just across the street from the White House, Trump was not expected to be there. He was scheduled to spend the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Honestly, I am blown away. I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this. We just kept hearing over and over again, if it was my child, I would want someone to do something.” Jess Morales Rocketto | Political director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance