New York City – Today, thousands of people rallied and marched in support of immigrant families and to condemn the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policies. The Protect Families March and Rally, organized by dozens of advocacy groups, legal and immigrants’ rights organizations, trade unions, and concerned citizens, set off from Foley Square and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to gather for a rally and speaking program in Cadman Plaza.
Last week, President Trump issued an executive order to end his own policy of separating families at the southern border, however he has not offered an effective plan to reunite loved ones. The continued incarceration of children – even with their parents – is both unlawful and traumatizing. Hundreds of migrant children have been relocated to New York facilities across the state, including in New York City. Amid the public outrage over the Trump administration’s inhuman immigration policies, the administration continues to pursue using immigrant children as pawns to gain support for building a border wall and limiting legal immigration – including asylum.
Advocates and community members leading the march and rally offered the following statements:
Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union said:
“The Trump regime is doing everything it can to divide immigrant families and drive them away. The current crisis will not end until every child that has been separated is reunited with their parents, every family is treated with dignity and due process, and our immigration policies reflect our values. New Yorkers will continue hitting the streets, the phones and the ballot boxes to make our message heard: families belong together.”
Estela Vasquez, Executive Vice President, 1199SEIU said:
“The 450,000 healthcare workers of 1199SEIU are sickened by this administration’s inhumane and racist mistreatment of the immigrants who form the rich fabric of our nation. As an immigrant myself, like many in our union, my heart hurts when I think about the babies ripped from their parents arms at our border, the families separated by oceans because of the Islamophobic Muslim ban. Are we returning to the days of slavery and Japanese internment camps?”
Alison Hirsh, 32BJ SEIU Vice President & Political Director:
“Moving kids from kennels to jails, with their parents, is not a real solution to this problem,” Alison Hirsh, 32BJ SEIU Vice President & Political Director, said. “I have two toddlers. But because of the color of my skin and the happenstance is my birth, I don’t fear that they will be taken from me, or me from them. Too many members of our community don’t have that privilege.”
Shannon Stagman, organizer and leader with Empire State Indivisible said:
“We stand in solidarity with New York’s immigrant communities, and pledge to do everything in our power to fight the Trump administration’s racist agenda. In the Indivisible movement, we believe in communicating directly with our elected officials and holding them accountable for representing us. Our representative is the minority leader of the Senate, and he has enormous power to lead a strong opposition – if he chooses to. We call on Senator Schumer to lead with moral clarity and unwavering conviction that immigrant families must be protected.”
Perla Lopez, Youth Organizer at Make the Road New York said:
“It is heartbreaking to see children being separated from their families. I know first hand how traumatic it feels to be separated from your mother; at age 10, I did not know when would be the next time I will be reunited with my family. These detention facilities are no place for children or for families. We must work together to make sure that all immigrants are safe and free and put an end to the xenophobic and racist policies that are being led by this administration.”
Carola Bracco, Executive Director of Neighbors Link said:
“Using children as pawns to achieve a policy win is unconscionable and the change in policy to keep families together but still incarcerated is not acceptable. We need our elected leaders to lead and forge a measured and reasoned path toward creating holistic and humane immigration policy that is in keeping with American values.”
Steven Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition said:
“By forcibly ripping families apart at the border, the Trump administration showed the world how morally bankrupt it truly is. The New York Immigration Coalition is proud to have worked with our members, partners and allies to organize tens of thousands of people rallying in New York and across the nation, making clear that the public has zero tolerance for Trump’s zero tolerance policy. We urge everyone to demand action from their elected officials to end family separation and incarceration. What is happening defies all moral decency, and we will not stand idly by.”
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Co-sponsors of the Protect Families March and Rally include:
1199SEIU
32BJ SEIU
ACLU
Action Group Network
Adventists for Social Justice
African Communities Together
Amnesty International USA
Arab American Association of New York
Asian American Federation
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Atlas DIY
Bangladeshi Feminist Collective
Beit Simchat Torah
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Broadway Democrats
Brooklyn For Peace
Buddhist Action Coalition
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities
CAIR-NY
Callen Lorde Community Health Center
Caring for Us Indivisible
Children’s Defense Fund-New York
Children’s Rights, Inc.
Chinese-American Planning Council
Chinese Progressive Association
Cidadão Global
Citizens Union of the City of New York
Common Cause/NY
Community Free Democrats
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
DC37
Direct Action Everywhere NYC
DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving
Empire State Indivisible
Faith In New York
Fast Food Justice
FPWA
Freedom Socialist Party
FWD.us
GAPIMNY— Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders
Global Citizen
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights First
IfNotNow
Immigrant Defense Project
Indivisible Nation BK
Indivisible Upper East Side
Jacob Riis Neighborhood Settlement
Japanese American Citizens League
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice
Jews Say No!
Judson Memorial Church
Lawyers For Children
LSA Family Health Service
Make the Road NY
March For Our Lives NYC
March for Truth
MinKwon Center of Community Action
National Writers Union / UAW Local 1981
Neighbors link
New Immigrant Community Empowerment
The New Sanctuary Coalition
New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, Inc.
New York Communities For Change
New York Civil Liberties Union
New York Immigration Coalition
New York Society For Ethical Culture
NICE
OCA-NY
One Spirit Learning Alliance
PARCEO
People’s Climate Movement NY
Progressive Doctors
Queens Community House
Refuse Fascism NYC
Revolting Lesbians
Rise and Resist NYC
RUSA LGBT
Safe Horizon
Sanctuary for Families
Sister District Project
South Asian Fund for Education, Scholarship, and Training
The Shul of New York
Trinity Wall Street Church
UAW Local 2110, Technical, Office and Professional Union
United Neighborhood Houses
Upper West Side MoveOn/Indivisible Action Group
Veterans For Peace – NYC Chapter 034
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
The Workmen’s Circle
YMCA of Greater New York
Young Invincibles
Young Progressives of America
