Thousands of people in over 600 cities participated in the Families Belong Together March, an attempt to voice dissatisfaction with the administration’s immigration policy and raise awareness for the families that have been torn apart. At this moment, there are more than 2,000 immigrant children still separate from their parents and stuck in the custody of the US government.
The practice of separation was a part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration effort, but, despite whatever message the administration was looking to send, one thing is clear: the Justice Department never laid out a plan to reunify the families they separated, and now, the task of total reunification seems almost insurmountable. It’s beginning to seems like this particular injustice can’t be walked back without a massive effort on behalf of legal professionals and the US government.
Saturday’s march was just one of several acts of protest that have taken place since the current administration began actively separating families back in May. Several people were actually arrested last week when protesters attempted to shut down operations at several ICE detention facilities across the country. While they were able to shut down the facilities for a few days, ultimately dozens if not hundreds of people will inevitably still have to be processed through them.
Not long after the occupations, a federal judge ordered that the families be reunified. Regardless, the manner in which that will happen is still up in the air and many of the people who participated in Saturday’s march still recognize the need for advocacy on behalf of the separated families. Here are some of the most powerful scenes from Saturday’s march.
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