Thousands protest immigration policy
Some 700 rallies across nation decry children’s separation from parents
WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of people turned out from coast-tocoast Saturday in “Families Belong Together” rallies to protest the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy and implore their fellow citizens to vote in November’s midterm elections.
While the thrust of the marches and rallies was to defend the 2,000 children separated from their parents at the U.S.Mexico border, the tone was decidedly political.
In Atlanta, Rep. John Lewis roused the crowd by imploring them: “Don’t give up, don’t give in — keep marching.”
In Dallas, where hundreds turned out downtown to call for a clear plan to reunify families separated by the administration policy, one sign said simply: “November is coming.”
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.
While President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump avoided the chants in Washington, the protests followed them to Bedminster, N.J.
Only a few miles from Trump National Golf Course, more than 100 protesters lined the side of a major New Jersey highway waving anti-Trump signs and chanting, “Where are the children!”
Each state is hosting at least one event. California was on track to host at least 80 on Saturday, according to the Families Belong Together website.
In Boston, the “Rally against Family Separation” began with march from City Hall to Boston Common, where a large rally took place. The protest was meant to oppose Trump’s ban on travelers from certain Muslim-majority nations.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Joe Kennedy III, both Massachusetts Democrats, attended, with the senator telling the crowd, “This is about children held in cages.” Warren recently visited a Border patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.
Some 700 rallies were mounted in all. Among the protests:
In Louisville, Ky., protesters sought refuge from the sweltering heat around Metro Hall. Art Baltes stood out from the crowd, pacing back and forth with a banner in hand: “Immigrants and Refugees Welcome.”
In Nashville, Abigail Taylor, a 37year-old mother of three, said she “can’t in good conscious pretend like nothing is happening and have my family go about like nothing is wrong.”
“The idea of someone taking them from me without saying goodbye, and them thinking I abandoned them, breaks my heart,” she said.
In York, Pennsylvania, John Terlazzo sat cross-legged wearing a sign bearing a quote from Buddha that said, “Hatred never ceases by hatred.” Asked why he was attending the rally, he said, “Because I’m sane. This whole regime is an atrocity. And I don’t care who you are, you don’t mess with children.”
In Ithaca, New York, about 500 people turned out on the Ithaca Commons to protest Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies and family separation. Among the signs was one reading: “Nazi’s separated families. We shall not.”