Hundreds of demonstrators rallied at separated children detention center in Florida and many others marched in San Diego, in other California cities to request "Free The Kids, Keep Families Together"
Saturday, June 23, 2018
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| Demonstrators participate in an organized march Saturday, June 23, 2018, near the Gateway International Bridge in downtown Brownsville, Texas. (Jason Hoekema/The Brownsville Herald via AP) |
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| Detainees are seen inside a facility, where tent shelters are being used to house separated family members at the Port of Entry, Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Fabens, Texas. |
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| Demonstrators block a bus with immigrant children onboard during a protest outside the U.S. Border Patrol Central Processing Center Saturday, June 23, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. Extra law enforcement officials were called in to help control the scene and allow the bus to move out. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) |
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| U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., center, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., left, speak with a Dept. of Homeland Security agent as they arrive to tour the Fabens Port-of-Entry facility which houses tent shelters used to hold separated family members, Friday, June 22, 2018, in Fabens, Texas. President Donald Trump's order ending the policy of separating immigrant families at the border leaves a host of unanswered questions, including what happens to the children already taken from their parents and where the government will house all the newly detained migrants in a system already bursting at the seams. (AP Photo/Matt York) |
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Mexico backdrops the Fabens Port-of-Entry which houses tent shelters used to hold separated migrant family members along the International border, Friday, June 22, in Fabens, Texas. The U.N human rights office says President Donald Trump's decision to stop the U.S. policy separating migrant parents from their children doesn't go far enough. (AP Photo/Matt York) |
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| Protesters and media gather outside a closed gate at the Port of Entry facility, where tent shelters are being used to house separated family members, Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Fabens, Texas. |
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| Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol agents stand behind a closed gate at the Port of Entry facility, where tent shelters are being used to house separated family members, Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Fabens, Texas. |
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| Demonstrators march past the Customs and Boarder Protection port of entry Saturday, June 23, 2018, at the Gateway International Bridge in downtown Brownsville, Texas. (Jason Hoekema/The Brownsville Herald via AP) |
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| Kristopher Coca yells during a protest outside the U.S. Border Patrol Central Processing Center Saturday, June 23, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. The protest occurred amid an uproar over the Trump administration's practice of separating immigrant families caught on the southwest border. President Donald Trump signed an order this week to keep families detained together during immigration proceedings. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) |
VietPress USA (June 23, 2018): President Donald Trump signed Executive Order to stop separation of illegal immigration families arrested at the US-Mexico boder; but there are many unanswered questions, including what happens to the children already taken from their parents and where the government will house all the newly detained migrants in a system already bursting at the seams.
Today on Saturday, June 23, 2018, hundreds of demonstrators rallied and protested against family separations near a Homestead, Florida, facility where immigrant children are being held. HOther hundreds of protestors marched in San Diego and in different California cities to request "Freethe Kids" and "Keep Families Together".
Read this report from AP on Yahoo News at:
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Protesters, Democrats want immigrant families reunited
Hundreds of people rallied near a Homestead, Florida, facility where immigrant children are being held. Demonstrators marched in San Diego carrying signs reading "Free the Kids" and "Keep Families Together" and in other California cities.
Outside a Border Patrol processing facility in McAllen, Texas, protesters carrying American flags temporarily blocked a bus carrying immigrants and shouted "Shame! Shame!" at border agents.
"Something has to be done," said Gabriel Rosales, the League of United Latin American Citizens' national vice president for the southwest. "This is not something that's OK in America today. And ours is to show those kids that they have people here in the United States that care."
The demonstrations came days after the Trump administration reversed course in the face of public and political outrage and had authorities stop separating immigrant families caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
In recent weeks, more than 2,300 children were taken from their families under a "zero-tolerance" policy in which people entering the U.S. illegally face prosecution. While the family separations were ended, confusion has ensued, with parents left searching for their children.
The administration says it will now seek to detain immigrant families during their immigration proceedings, which has also stoked an outcry.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton issued a statement that criticized protests in Portland, Oregon, against immigration enforcement activities that closed federal immigration offices there this week, but did not address the other demonstrations occurring around the country Saturday.
Evelyn Stauffer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said her agency is trying to help reunite families or place unaccompanied immigrant children with an appropriate sponsor.
In Florida, Argentine immigrant Maria Bilbao said she joined the protest because she came to the country 17 years ago with her then-9-year-old son and understands the fear of being separated from a child.
"What is happening in this country is disgusting," said Bilbao, who worked as a cleaning woman before becoming a legal resident and now works for an immigrant rights group. "They should be letting people go to the outside so they can work and contribute to this country."
More protests are planned for next weekend in states from Connecticut to California.
A group of 25 Democratic lawmakers who toured the border processing facility in McAllen, Texas, said they hadn't seen a clear federal system for reuniting those who were split up. Everyone — even infants — is assigned "A'' or alien numbers, only to be given different identification numbers by other federal agencies.
They described seeing children sleeping behind bars, on concrete floors and under emergency "mylar" heat-resistant blankets.
"There are still thousands of children who are out there right now untethered to their parents and no coherent system to fix that," Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters after the tour.
Immigration lawyers are also trying to help facilitate reunions. At criminal court hearings in McAllen, one lawyer identified parents separated from their children, and immigration attorney Jodi Goodwin said she followed up with them at a detention facility in Port Isabel, Texas, to collect information about their cases and their children.
Goodwin said she has been inundated with requests from the parents, and the list is still growing.
"Once you end up talking with one parent they tell you that there are 70 other parents in their dorm that are also separated and can I help them," she said, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had asked her to share the information so they could assist. "We haven't tapped out on the number of adults that have been separated."
Tens of thousands of immigrants traveling with their families have been caught on the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, many fleeing gang violence in Central America. About 9,000 such family units have been caught in each of the last three months, according to U.S. border authorities.
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