The turnout was nowhere near the hundreds of thousands that showed up last weekend for the Washington, D. C., Women\u2019s March. But Sunday\u2019s crowd, quickly assembled after a call-out on social media, arrived with a sense of urgency. They yelled out slogans \u2013 \u201cShame! Shame! Shame!\u201d \u2013 while pointing their fingers at the White House, hoping Trump might be watching.
\u201cWhat has happened is cowardly. It is shameful,\u201d said Cristina Scarpaci, a Cuban-American who held a sign noting that her mother was a refugee. \u201cAs Americans, we need to bond together to make sure that refugees looking for safe harbor can find it here in the United States.\u201d
Scarpaci said her mother fled Cuba in the 1960s, at the age 16, and was held in detention for three days in Florida before being reunited with her family in New York City. \u201cI\u2019ve had several family members who have been able to come to the United States as political refugees. … This is a country that was built on helping others.\u201d
Late last week, Trump signed an order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the United States for 90 days, while suspending all refugee admissions for 120 days. A federal judge Saturday placed a stay on deporting people detained under that order, setting up a legal fight that will play out this week.
Ahmed El-Ashram, a 32-year-old Egyptian-American, said he was compelled to join the D. C. protest Sunday because of his family\u2019s situation. El-Ashram\u2019s uncle has brothers in Damascus, Syria, whom he\u2019s been trying to bring to the United States. \u201cNow my uncle has no hope. There is no future,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are stuck in a war-torn zone, and they can\u2019t come to safety, to America.\u201d
While doubtful Trump will change his mind, El-Ashram said he hopes the protests will help spread awareness that many Americans do not support the so-called Muslim ban. \u201cAs you can see from this whole event, there are Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians, Jews,\u201d he said. \u201cThere all types of people here and we are all in this together.\u201d
Trump was in the Oval Office, making calls, when Sunday\u2019s protest started. It was not immediately known whether he took notice, although the demonstrations nationwide would be hard to ignore. Rallies against his executive order were held in the cities and airports of Boston, Atlanta, Kansas City, Sacramento, Raleigh, Charlotte and other communities around the country Sunday, after more spontaneous protests erupted Saturday in New York and other cities.
According to the White House, Trump spoke Sunday with King Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. \u201cThey agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of radical Islamic terrorism and also on the importance of working jointly to address challenges to regional peace and security, including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen,\u201d said the White House in a statement.
Sunday\u2019s White House protest was peaceful and lasted less than two hours, whereupon a contingent set off to protest outside of Trump\u2019s hotel downtown, and others headed to the U. S. Capitol several blocks away. Some protesters said they were mad not just at Trump and his Republican supporters but also at Democrats in Congress.
\u201cI wish the Democrats would get some spine,\u201d said Suzanne Blue Star Boy, a Washington resident and member of the Yankton Sioux tribe of South Dakota. \u201cThe Democrats will sit in committee and whine about some of Trump\u2019s (Cabinet) picks, but then they will turn around and vote to confirm them.\u201d
Anita Kumar contributed to this report.<\/p>\n