MORE THAN 50,000 MARCH IN CHICAGO TO PROTEST FAMILY SEPARATION,
Thousands march downtown to protest Trump immigration policy, call for abolition of enforcement agency
“INSTEAD OF DEPORTING GANGS, THEY’RE GOING AFTER, AND DEPORTING, FAMILIES. THE DEBATE [ ON IMMIGRATION POLICY] ISN’T OVER. IT’S JUST STARTING.” SEN. DICK DURBIN, D- Illinois
Thousands of demonstrators braved the sweltering heat to make their way downtown Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Despite the triple- digit heat index, scores of sweat- drenched protesters filled Daley Plaza by 11 a. m. for the “Families Belong Together” march. Chicago police estimated the crowd at more than 50,000.
Attendees spoke out against the recently rescinded policy of separating migrant fam- ily members at the U. S. border with Mexico, and others, including Sen. Dick Durbin, went a step further and called for the abolition of U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Durbin called the rally “a place I had to be.” He also called for “lopping off heads” at ICE and said November will give Democrats and others urging for policy changes a microphone to do so.
“It’s cruel and incompetent,” Durbin said. “Instead of deporting gangs, they’re going after, and deporting, families. The debate [ on immigration policy] isn’t over. It’s just starting.”
The march was the culmination of a month of unrest brought on by a Trump administration policy that separated children from their parents and sent them to facilities around the country.
Though the policy was walked back, many at the Saturday march said the policy should never be repeated. Around noon, protesters, toting signs that said “Fire ICE” and “# End-- FamilyDetention” among other slogans, took their message to ICE’s regional field office, making their way to the intersection of Clark and West Congress Parkway.
There, a marching band played “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars” and protesters chanted “shame” before looping around to Daley Plaza. But they kept coming — three waves of protesters went past ICE offices.
The rally was among more than 700 planned marches — including some in the Chicago suburbs — that drew hundreds of thousands of people across the country on Saturday.
For Anel Sancen, who arrived in the United States when she was two, the rally and march were about sending a message to Trump and others in his administration.
“I’m here because I’m an immigrant — I came across the border with my parents,” Sancen said. “It’s hard to see kids separated from their families. We need to send a clear message that this can’t happen and it has to stop.” Carlos Ballesteros is a corps member in Report for America, a not- for- profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun- Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides.