In San Antonio: Crowd packs the plaza.

San Antonians pack Main Plaza

Clad in white as a show of unity, San Antonians crowded into Main Plaza on Saturday denouncing a policy that separated children from their undocumented parents caught trying cross the border.

They joined thousands of others who rallied and marched at more than 700 events across the United States, protesting President Donald Trump's “zero tolerance” immigration policy, demanding quick reunification of those already separated and calling for an end to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

San Antonio police said the crowd swelled to about 800 at its height, but Brook Colgan, an organizer of the local protest, said overall, close to 2,000 attended the two-hour rally as people came and went.

Patrick and Celeste Mullen — carrying signs proclaiming “We Care!” and “Resist the Separation!” — said they joined the protest out of concern for the “character of the country.”

Patrick Mullen says Trump's policy is “not only racist but is immensely inhumane.”

“We want it (the U.S.) to remain a beacon of hope and democracy,” Patrick said. “This is disheartening.”

Trump ended the controversial separation policy on June 20 but kept his “zero tolerance” policy, which was what prompted the family separations. The rally participants Saturday are demanding that separated children and parents be reunited immediately, that all family detentions stop and that Trump end his zero tolerance policy, too.

Protestors stood together as they listened to remarks from area politicians including U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio, and state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, as well as pro-immigration activists.

“It's shameful, it's really shameful,” Doggett said of the separations, comparing the detainment of children to the U.S.' internment camps of Japanese citizens in World War II. The crowd responded with shouts and boos.

He, like many in attendance, is upset at how long reunification is taking.

“It didn't take them 14 days to separate children,” Doggett pointed out. And it shouldn't take them that long to reunite them now, he said.

Carrying a sign that read “Families Belong Together” in English and Spanish, 40-yearold Fabiola León, a former citizen of Mexico who came to the U.S. five years ago, said she is against the policy because of the harm it has caused families.