Protests against President Trump’s immigration policy are taking place here in Chicago and nationwide Saturday.
Protests against President Trump’s immigration policy are taking place here in Chicago and nationwide Saturday. Friday night, people marched through the Pilsen neighborhood to voice their opposition to the separation of immigrant parents from their children at the U. S. Mexico border. More than 15,000 protesters are expected to descend on the Loop Saturday for a march and rally. The protesters want the Trump administration to reunite parents with their children as quickly as possible. On Thursday, a Brazilian woman here in Chicago was reunited with her young son after an order by a federal judge. More than 600 marches could draw hundreds of thousands of people across the country, from immigrant-friendly cities like Los Angeles and New York City to conservative Appalachia and Wyoming under the banner Families Belong Together. Though many who show up 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, Oregon, for example, several stay-at-home moms have organized their first rally while caring for young kids.»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.»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 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.»White House spokesman Hogan Gidley didn’t respond to a request for comment.
