In one of the most dramatic expressions yet of contempt for the Trump administration’s cruel and dehumanizing policies—and there have been many—hundreds of thousands of people in every single state rallied on Saturday to make it clear that migrant #FamiliesBelongTogether.
From the small town of Machias, Maine, to metropolitan National City, California, and from Hawaii to Puerto Rico to Alaska, Americans of all walks of life and political affiliation joined together to reject the virtual kidnapping and isolation of children in detention by the U.S. government. The protests also are taking place across the globe.
According to USA Today, nearly 630 rallies are planned throughout the day, organized by the Families Belong Together Coalition. Most of them already are underway, as participants weather the blazing summer heat to demand that more than 2,000 migrant children be reunited with their parents after being separated at the sprawling U.S. border with Mexico, as part of the administration’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy.
At least 80 events are scheduled for California alone, and other states have dozens each. In the nation’s capital, protesters gathered in Lafayette Square in front of the White House. President Donald Trump abandoned the White House over the weekend to spend Saturday at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But the protesters headed there, too.
Actress America Ferrera, whose parents are from Honduras, read a letter from a grandfather fighting to be reunited with his granddaughter, who is currently being detained at the Shiloh Treatment Center in Texas.
“I want to be her sponsor because she is my granddaughter,” the letter said. “I am her grandfather.”
In Atlanta, Rep. John Lewis urged everyone to “keep marching.”
“We may have to turn America upside down to turn it right-side up,” he said.
Meanwhile, protesters there carried dog crates with dolls inside.
Jess Morales Rocketto, from the National Domestic Workers Alliance, told NBC: “Honestly, I am blown away. I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this.”
Leading up to Saturday’s historic rallies, many participants noted that the marches weren’t the only action they planned on taking. The most important one, they said, was voting in November.
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