Thousands rally nationwide for illegal immigrant families separated at border

The voices of thousands of people rang nationwide on Saturday as protesters urged the reunification of hundreds of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Protesters chanted “shut detention down!” as they marched in New York City’s Foley Square while in El Paso, Texas, hundreds marched toward the Paso Del Norte (Santa Fe) Bridge that crosses into Juarez, Mexico.

In all, more than 600 events were planned across the country.

In a flurry of tweets on Saturday afternoon, President Trump, who was headed to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., this weekend, addressed immigration in broad strokes.

The protests come after several weeks of demonstrations across the country – many outside detention centers nationwide.

Tyler Houlton, a spokesman 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.”

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.

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