- Protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policy took place in over 700 cities across the country on Saturday.
- Demonstrators called upon the Trump administration to reunite the immigrant families it separated, and to stop trying to detain asylum-seeking families.
- The marches came one day after hundreds of women were arrested after they occupied a Senate building to protest immigrant family separations by the US government.
Thousands marched on Saturday in over 700 rallies planned across the United States against President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
The flagship march, Families Belong Together, took place across the street from the White House in Washington, DC.
The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy led to the separation of thousands of families at the US-Mexico border, prompting critics such as the United Nations Human Rights chief to call it “government-sanctioned child abuse.”
Though Trump signed an executive order last week halting the separations, the crisis is far from over. In recent days, lawyers and government officials have faced significant challenges in locating and reuniting the families of more than 2,000 children who were separated and sent to shelters and foster families across the country.
On top of its zero-tolerance policy, Trump administration is also overhauling the asylum process, restricting the amount of eligible asylum-seekers by disqualifying domestic or gang violence as qualifying factors in obtaining asylum.
Saturday’s marches came one day after hundreds of women were arrested after they occupied a Senate building to protest family separations.
See how they unfolded across the country:
Protestors gathered in Washington DC’s Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House for the flagship march Saturday morning.
Though Trump was in New Jersey for the day, the National Parks Service said organizers expected 50,000 people to attend Saturday’s rally.
Source: WTOP
The event’s website says one of the march’s priorities is to demand for the Trump administration to reunite the thousands of immigrant children who have been separated from their parents since the “zero tolerance” policy was first implemented.
Source: CNN, Families Belong Together
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- Striking photos show demonstration where hundreds of women occupied a US Senate building to protest family separations
- One asylum-seeker was warned his son could be taken from him at the border — but he crossed anyway, because Honduras was too dangerous for them to stay
- ‘I’m just thankful to be here in America’: An asylum-seeker speaks out about narrowly escaping getting separated from his son
