Families Belong Together rallies gear up in hundreds of cities
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Activists, parents and first-time protesters motivated by accounts of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border plan to rally in hundreds of cities across North America today to press U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to quickly reunite the families.
More than 600 marches could draw hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. — from immigrant-friendly cities like Los Angeles and New York City, to conservative Appalachia and Wyoming — under the banner Families Belong Together.
A protest will take place across from the White House, with another planned in Bedminster, N.J., where Trump owns a private golf course and will be spending the weekend.
More than a dozen rallies are also planned in Canada, in cities that include Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Edmonton. Many will be held in front of U.S. consulates.
Though many expected to show up at the U.S. rallies will be seasoned anti-Trump demonstrators, others will be new to immigration activism, including parents who say they feel compelled to show up after heart-wrenching accounts of children forcibly taken from their families as they crossed the border illegally. In Portland, Ore., for example, several stay-at-home moms have organized their first rally while caring for young kids.
We just kept hearing over and over again, if it was my child, I would want someone to do something.– Jess Morales Rocketto of the National Domestic Workers Alliance
“I’m not a radical, and I’m not an activist,” said Kate Sharaf, a Portland co-organizer. “I just reached a point where I felt I had to do more.”
Immigrant advocacy groups say they’re thrilled — and surprised — to see the issue gaining traction among those not tied to immigration.
“Honestly, I am blown away. I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, political director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which represents nannies, housekeepers and caregivers, many of whom are immigrants.
“We just kept hearing over and over again: If it was my child, I would want someone to do something.”
Drawing on networks from women’s marches
Saturday’s rallies are getting funding and support from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and The Leadership Conference. But local organizers are shouldering on-the-ground planning, many of them women relying on informal networks established during worldwide women’s marches on Trump’s inauguration and its anniversary.
Tyler Houlton, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, welcomed interest in the immigration system and said only Congress has the power to change the law.
“We appreciate that these individuals have expressed an interest in and concern with the critical issue of securing our nation’s borders and enforcing our immigration laws,” Houlton said. “As we have indicated before, the department is disappointed and frustrated by our nation’s disastrous immigration laws and supports action.”
Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to show his support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid calls from some Democrats for major changes to immigration enforcement.
To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit. You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements. So brave! The radical left Dems want you out. Next it will be all police. Zero chance, It will never happen!
mdash;@realDonaldTrump
Tweeting from New Jersey, Trump said that Democrats “are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen.”
He urged ICE agents to “not worry or lose your spirit.”
In Portland, Sharaf and other mothers who organized the rally hope to attract 5,000 people.
Right-wing activists with the group Patriot Prayer also have a permit to march later in the day Saturday and the Portland Police Bureau said Friday they planned to have a heavy police presence.
People demonstrate in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, demanding an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
Sharaf and co-organizer Erin Conroy have co-ordinated with immigrant advocacy groups.
“This is not my wheelhouse,” Conroy said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is a national emergency that we all need to be focused on right now.”
That passion is heartening for the broader anti-Trump coalition, which hopes marches will attract people who have otherwise been on the sidelines, said David S. Meyer, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has authored books on U.S. political protest.
“There are people who have all kinds of other grievances or gripes with the Trump administration and they’re quite happy to use this one as the most productive and salient for the moment,” he said.
Immigration attorney Linda Rivas said groups have met with U.S. authorities, congressional representatives and other leaders to discuss an escalating immigration crackdown that they say began decades ago. But the family separation policy has been a watershed for attracting a broader spectrum of demonstrators, she said.
“To finally have people on board wanting to take action, marching, taking to the streets, it’s been motivating for us as advocates because we have to keep going,” Rivas said.
Article source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/sports/lions-silverbacks-win-big-1.5746603
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