Locals join others in nationwide marches.

Crowd in Albany denounces splitting of families at border, demands children be returned

More than 100 protesters gathered in Saturday’s scorching heat in front of the state Capitol to demand the speedy reunification of immigrant families separated at the U.s.-mexico border.

Marchers held signs reading “Abolish ICE” and “Make America Kind Again” at the “Families Belong Together” rally in opposition to President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies, which have resulted in the detention of thousands of children without their parents, including some at New York state facilities.

Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam; Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan; and state Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, D-albany, were among those who addressed the crowd, which included a large number of parents and their children.

“As a mother, we know the most humane thing we can do for our children, is get them out of harm’s way. And yet we have a president and a bureaucracy which saw fit to literally rip those children from mothers’ arms,” Sheehan, a Democrat, said. “Shame on us!”

The rally was among more than 600 marches planned across the country to protest the removal of children from the custody of their parents, who faced prosecution as a result of Trump administration’s policies.

Photos from the border showed young children fenced off in holding areas, and audio was leaked to the media of children crying out for their parents, before Trump reversed his separation policy through executive order on June 20.

On June 27, a federal judge in California ruled that the children must be reunited with their parents within 30 days. If children are younger than 5, they must be reunited within 14 days of the order issued by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.

“What I see happening from a front row seat in Washington is horrible,” Tonko said at Saturday’s rally. “I find it vulgar that we as a nation that has always stood as a place of refuge ... we promised them our strength. What do we do now? We give them our weakness, we give them our fear, and we tear children away from their families!”

Photos by John Carl D’annibale / Times Union Demonstrators at the state Capitol in Albany take part Saturday in the People for the American Way’s nationwide day of protest against the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants.

The protest at the state Capitol drew more than100 demonstrators such as Bonnie Germain of Averill Park, seen cheering a speaker at left. Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam, below, addresses the crowd.