Protesters chanting, 'Set them free!' block bus of migrant kids at border
Updated
at 5:20 p.m.
with details from the protests in McAllen
McALLEN — Calls to end the Trump
administration's "zero-tolerance" crackdown on migrant families
intensified Saturday when protesters from Dallas and other cities briefly
blocked an immigration bus, while other civil rights leaders launched a
nationwide fast.
A rally at a U.S. Customs and Border
Protection station swiftly escalated when hundreds of protesters saw a bus
arriving with child migrants — and they blocked its passage.
"Set them free," the
demonstrators chanted, as police arrived to disperse the crowd.
The Rev. Peter Johnson, a longtime
civil rights activist in Dallas, led a group in prayer, asking for
strength "to help America find America."
"We saw the eyes of these young
children through the windows of the bus," he said.
Some protesters turned their anger on
the border agents and shouted, “Shame on you!"
"It was heartbreaking to see the
kids," said Esseiny Alanis, a Dallas teacher at the rally. Alanis
said the children looked frightened.
Dallas-area imam Omar Suleiman joined
in the McAllen protest, saying those responsible for the crackdown should
reconsider their actions.
"Anyone who participated at any
capacity in this, needs to look at the mirror and ask themselves what they are
doing," Suleiman said. "I get they are not the ones making the
policies, but this is inhumane."
Look closely to see the tiny hands of the children pressed against the tinted windows! #freethechildren #FamilySeparation
"We passed all the background
checks," Garcia said. "We were aware we can't film or record
anything, but at the end the names approved were denied" by the
Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Health and Human Services Department agency that
provides housing for children.
Dozens of people joined the "Break
Bread, Not Families" rally wearing red T-shirts and holding
signs with messages that included "Mother and children do not belong in
detention," "Stop deportations" and "No hate! No
fear!"
Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F.
Kennedy, took aim at the new policies that level criminal misdemeanor charges
against immigrants accused of illegally entering the U.S. The law has been
on the books for decades, but immigrants are far more likely to face
deportation hearings for a civil offense in the nation's immigration courts.
People
brought out large signs in support of the Break Bread Not Families rally at
Archer Park in McAllen, Texas, Saturday, June 23, 2018. The rally was hosted by
LUPE (La Union Del Pueblo Entero) to protest the treatment of families crossing
into the United States. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)
Organizers said they wanted people to
commit to fasting for 24 hours and then get a commitment from other individuals
to do the same over a 24-day period. Each day is meant to symbolize 100 migrant
children among the almost 2,400 who federal officials say have been separated
from their parents.
A large black and white framed photo of
RFK and labor leader Cesar Chavez was displayed at the event. Many chanted, "Si,
se puede," the mantra of the farm worker movement that was founded by
Chavez, Huerta and others.
Huerta told the crowd the fast would
spread in popularity and help shine a light on the immigration crisis.
"This fast is going to make the
difference," she said. "I am sure it is going to jump borders."
—
Jenny Manrique (@JennyManriqueC) · McAllen, TX
"Cesar Chavez did [fasts]
alongside Robert F. Kennedy to protest workers rights," she said. "Now
we need to tell this administration that the indefinite detention of families
is not the solution to the problems in Central America."
Tania Chavez,
an unauthorized immigrant who lives in the area and came to the U.S. as a
14-year-old, said she would fast for the migrant children.
"These have been really difficult
days," Chavez said. "Every time they tell us we cannot find our
children, it breaks our hearts."
The Trump administration announced
plans in April to prosecute all immigrants caught along the southwest border
with illegally entering the country. Parents were jailed and children taken to
government-contracted shelters.
Now, the administration says it will
continue with prosecutions and seek to detain families together during their
immigration proceedings.
Confusion has ensued, with parents left
searching for their children.
Immigration officials have said they
could seek up to 15,000 beds in family detention facilities, and the Pentagon
is drawing up plans to house as many as 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children
on military bases.
Those proposals have also sparked an
outcry from women's and children's advocates who say children don't belong in
jail.
—
Dianne Solis (@disolis) · Archer Park
She said the children she has seen have
been traumatized by seeing their parents apprehended by border agents and kept
behind metal fencing that she said looks like cages.
"Those kids are really suffering,"
Cohen said.
Boys, especially, are having problems
processing what has happened to their parents, Cohen said. Some children are so
distressed they vomit. Others are obsessed by the possibility they will lose a
parent.
Roxanne said she wanted the migrant
children in detention to know "they will be together with their families
soon."
Her note was more defiant, though. It
read: "Together, we will fight the battle."
The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
Domingo
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