Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Protesters rally against Trump’s child separation policy
Petition urges Sen. Pat Toomey to fight for end to family separation at borders
LANSDOWNE » Angry at the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, about 30 protesters held signs at all four corners at Lansdowne Avenue and Baltimore Pike during the evening rush hour Monday – drawing countless honks and even a few “Thank you” comments from passing motorists.
The hour-long demonstration was loosely advertised as an “ad hoc grassroots protest,” which was coordinated by borough resident Terry Baraldi, a self-described “revolting granny.”
Baraldi said she was at the pool on Saturday and while reading all the posts on Facebook about the controversial issue, she wanted to take some action.
“It’s all about the kids,” she said. “The families belong together.”
Baraldi and her husband, Tom, both held signs with images of a weeping Statue of Liberty.
Hours before the 5 p.m. demonstration got under way, President Trump doubled-down on his stance, despite rising outrage from Democrats and some Republicans over the policy.
Trump continued to cast blame on Democrats Monday, tweeting: “Why don’t the Democrats give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws? Where is the outcry for the killings and crime being caused by gangs and thugs, including MS-13, coming into our country illegally?”
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen refused Monday to apologize for enforcing immigration laws that result in the separation of children from their parents. Speaking at a meeting of the National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans Monday, she rejected criticism accusing DHS of inhumane and immoral actions.
“We are doing none of those things. We are enforcing the laws passed by Congress,” she said.
Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new “zero-tolerance” policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. U.S. protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents because the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.
In Lansdowne, one protester’s sign targeted Sessions, accusing him of “Overseeing Crimes Against Humanity.”
While Sessions has quoted the Bible in defense of the policy, Linda Sena of Lansdowne firmly believes the actions go against the Bible.
“I can’t believe the abomination of taking children from their families and putting them in a detention center … It serves no useful purpose,” said Sena, a mother of one adult son. “We are just better than this.”
Holding a sign that read, “Love your neighbor, no exceptions,” Jennifer Beer, also of Lansdowne, likened the children’s detainment facilities to concentration camps.
The daughter of a German-Jewish refugee, she said her father’s parents escaped Germany early, fleeing to Paris and then New York.
“They were very grateful to be allowed into the United States because a lot of Jews were turned away,” she said. “This policy of separating children and detaining all families … they are concentration camps and I want people to start to realize that’s what we are talking about.”
Beer also noted she is friends with Japanese people who were held in internment camps during World War II.
Dana Robinson held a sign that read, “Quakers supporting all families” on one side, and “Stop family separation” on the other.
“What if they were your kids?” read another sign. “Defend the immigrant children,” read another. “Terrorize children to get your wall,” read yet another.
Throughout the protest, Wendy Chmielewski collected 33 signatures on a petition destined for Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Among the signees was one individual who was simply walking by the demonstration and offered support.
Supporters of the petition want Toomey to:
• Fight for the immediate end to family separation at our borders;
• Release a public statement on where you stand regarding criminalizing families and separation of children from their parents;
• Demand oversight of ICE and U.S. Custom and Border Protection, and investigate abuses;
• Restore funding for legal aid through the Office of Refugee Resettlement to unaccompanied minors;
• Pass the clean Dream Act with path to legal citizenship for our DACA recipients.
Tuesday afternoon, the Lansdowne Democratic Committee, chaired by attorney Charlotte K. Hummel, issued a press release condemning the Trump Administration’s policy calling for the end of “the brutal and immoral treatment of immigrants and asylumseekers” at the southern border.
“We call upon the elected members of the legislative, judicial and executive branches to honor our treaty agreements, our civil law, our obligations under international law, and our respect for human rights by treating all immigrants and asylum-seekers in a humane manner.
“We urge not only all Democrats, but all citizens of political affiliation, and all elected and appointed officials to remember who we aspire to be as Americans – people who stand up for humane treatment of all people, regardless of citizenship status. We call for an immediate end to the current administration’s brutal policy of taking children from their parents, as it is a cynical and thinly veiled ploy to hold them as political hostages to the legislative goal of having taxpayers fund an ill-conceived and expensive border wall,” the release states. “No human being is illegal.”
On a similar but broader scope Tuesday afternoon, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a prepared release called on Sessions and Nielsen to end the cruel and illegal tactic of separating children from their parents as families lawfully seek asylum in the United States and protection from domestic, sexual and gang violence.
“The Trump Administration’s family separation policy is un-American and violates the core principles and values of our nation,” Shapiro stated, after sending a letter to Sessions signed by 20 other attorneys general. “President Trump has the sole authority to rescind his policy and should stop using children as leverage in political battles.”
Shapiro was joined by the attorneys general of New Mexico, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington in demanding an immediate change in policy.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.