Thousands of people turned out across the country Saturday to protest immigration policies. From Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., to McAllen, Texas and Dodge City, Kan., people held signs calling for an end to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that separates immigrant children from their parents at the border.<doc-sep>Politics & Government LA Residents Protest Trump's Immigration Policy A coalition of advocacy groups flooded the streets of downtown Los Angeles Saturday to decry the Trump administration. Reply LOS ANGELES, CA -- A coalition of advocacy groups flooded the streets of downtown Los Angeles Saturday to decry the Trump administration's policy involving the detention of families caught trying to enter the United States illegally at the Mexico border. "If you are pro-family, you cannot separate families," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said to the crowd at Los Angeles City Hall. "Mr. Trump, do your job. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), do your job ..." Garcetti said. The mayor's speech was followed by remarks from model Chrissy Teigen, and then a performance of "What's Goin' On" and a new song, titled "Preach," by her husband, singer and musician John Legend. "This an inflection moment," California Sen. Kamala Harris said. "This is a moment in time that is requiring us to look in a mirror and ask a question, and that question is `Who are we?' I believe the answer is `We are better than this."' South Los Angeles Rep. Maxine Waters, who has been embroiled in an escalating war of words with Trump in recent days, later took the stage and did not hold back. "I know there are those who are talking about censuring me, kicking me out of Congress ... shooting me," Waters said, alluding to recent death threats that prompted her to cancel two speaking events in the South she had planned for this weekend. "If you shoot me, you better shoot straight -- there's nothing like a wounded animal." Other scheduled speakers included Secretary of State Alex Padilla, county Supervisor Hilda Solis, California Lt. Gov. and gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, and Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles. MoveOn, CHIRLA, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the Women's March LA Foundation and the Council on American-Islamic Relations were among the many groups participating. The "Families Belong Together - Freedom for Immigrants March," was set to follow the rally, and will end in front of the immigration holding facility on Aliso and Alameda streets. Attendees were urged to wear white in a show of unity. The L.A. march is among more than 700 protests planned nationwide.<doc-sep>Galvanized by the images and voices of migrant children separated from their parents by President Trump’s immigration policies, hundreds of thousands took to the streets Saturday in major cities and small towns across America to express outrage that they hope will carry over into the fall election. From coast to coast, several hundred rallies dubbed Families Belong Together ranged from the large and boisterous — thousands clogging the Brooklyn Bridge in New York — to more modest ones, such as a protest that drew about 200 people to a street corner in West Hartford, Conn. In Los Angeles, tens of thousands assembled in front of City Hall just before noon in a star- and politician-studded rally that centered on messages of humanity and empathy transcending borders. Organizers said they were not only protesting the separation of families but also Trump policies “criminalizing” migrants and leaving in limbo the fate of those protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shielded from deportation young immigrants brought here illegally when they were children. “Human rights should have no border!” one protester yelled at the start of the L.A. rally, as children waved signs that read: “Familia, sí! Trump, no, no, no!” and “Love cannot be stopped.” Advertisement “When we have children in cages crying for their mommies and daddies, we know we are better than this,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told the crowd. “When we know those children will suffer lifelong trauma, and that this is not reflective of a civil society, we know we are better than this.” Many marchers were veterans of protests against other Trump administration policies, including the Women’s March and the March for Science, but some were newly energized to speak up. For Debbie Greenspan, a protest Saturday in Hollywood, Fla., was the first demonstration she ever attended. “I just can’t bear babies being taken from their parents or even putting the whole family in jail,” Greenspan said. “I mean, what is wrong with these people? It’s beyond comprehension.” In Washington, thousands of people braved intense heat to march through the National Mall and rally across from the White House. Actress Diane Guerrero, star of the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” recounted her own immigration experience before the crowd. “Do we want to be an America that values children and families?” she asked. “This time the stakes are too visible ... too well-documented to be ignored.” Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy has come under fire in recent weeks after it resulted in the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents or guardians crossing the border. Trump last week announced that the administration would end the policy, but the government has reunited only a small handful of the families involved. Administration officials revealed Friday in court filings before a federal judge in Los Angeles that rather than separate families, they now plan to hold parents and children together in indefinite detention as they await their court dates. As the overcast morning gave way to a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, protesters dressed in white chanted: “Where are the children?” Advertisement Jimmy “Taboo” Gomez of the musical group Black Eyed Peas riled up the crowd with the hit song “Where is the Love?” Gomez told the protesters that the song was written in the aftermath of 9/11. “And so many years later, in 2018, we’re still asking the same questions: Where is the love?” he said. Among those who later took to a megaphone was Antonio Lopez, who carried a large American flag and a sign that predicted “lots of work for the lawyers of this country.” He said Trump deserves to be jailed for his immigration policies. “Donald Trump is kidnapping those kids,” he said. “It’s a violation of the Constitution.” Advertisement Speakers turned Trump’s immigration policy on its head and said it was the administration that should get “zero tolerance” for separating families, jailing asylum seekers and violating migrants’ due process rights. When one speaker led the crowd in a chant of “Trump, where’s your heart?” Lopez said, “No lo tiene” — he doesn’t have one. Litzy Del Valle, 17, and five of her friends — all children of Mexican immigrants — woke up at 6 a.m. to secure spots at the rally. They wore matching shirts that said “No somos criminales” — we aren’t criminals. Del Valle said her parents came to the U.S. in 1986 fleeing poverty in Puebla, Mexico. Her dad trekked through the desert to get here. He now works in construction, and her mother as a cashier, all for a better life for their children, she said. Since Trump’s election, dismayed by the rhetoric on immigrants, they’ve been talking about returning to Puebla, where her father has been paying off a plot of land, Del Valle said. As she prepares to start college in the fall, Del Valle said she worries that her parents won’t get to witness her success. Advertisement “To think I have a home and a roof over my head because of what they did — it inspires me to build a better America so no one has to go through that,” she said. Protesting alongside teenagers like Del Valle was 86-year-old Armony Share of Sherman Oaks, who had a more historical perspective in her criticism of the Trump administration for what she said was its lack of compassion for those fleeing crime and persecution in their home countries. “The Jews were turned away [from America] when they were able to escape from Europe in World War II,” she said. “Are we doing the same thing to these people? When you’re against one group, you’re against all of them.” Share’s parents, who are Russian and Polish, fled brewing anti-Semitism in the 1920s. She was born in Mexico and eventually found her home in the U.S. in 1941. Advertisement Even though she doesn’t expect the Trump administration to hear the message of Saturday’s marches, Share said she felt she had to voice her opposition. “If you’re silent, you’re complicit,” she said. Groups that joined forces to put together the Los Angeles rally included the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. In addition to Harris, politicians including Mayor Eric Garcetti and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor, spoke at the rally. Singer-songwriter John Legend sang his message, performing a new song written for the occasion called “Preach.” He urged people to take action, saying that it’s not enough to preach. He told the crowd that migrants should be seen “as human beings who deserve the chance to flourish.” Advertisement “It requires you see through the eyes of another,” he said. “You can’t just talk about it, or read about it. You’ve got to do something!” Jimmy “Taboo” Gomez, left, a member of the pop group the Black Eyed Peas, greets protesters after performing at the Families Belong Together rally in L.A. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times ) The midterm elections were on the minds of protesters all over the country. In Dallas, marchers carried signs reading, “November is coming.” In Denver, protesters at the state Capitol chanted: “Vote them out! Vote them out!” “I think it’s very important to keep this energy going,” said Jason Moses, 44, of Denver. “It’s a great motivating factor for the November elections.” Advertisement Many marchers said the issue was deeply personal. In West Hartford, Christine Brea said she was moved to join the rally partly because her grandmother was a Navajo separated from her parents in childhood. “It seems history is repeating itself,” Brea said. “I’m heartbroken.” Marching in Chicago was Margo Chavez-Easley, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala with her mother when she was 9. Advertisement “To be an immigrant and an American, I feel a mix of pride and shame,” Chavez-Easley said. “... That’s a child’s biggest fear, is to lose their mom and dad.” Protesting side by side in Denver were Henny Pattirane, 26, an immigrant from Indonesia, and her friend Joseline Umulisa, also 26, an immigrant from Rwanda.<doc-sep>
Hollywood did not come to play as A-listers joined the masses for Families Belong Together rallies all across the nation. From New York City to Los Angeles, the immigration march comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the southern border — which has been weighing heavily on everyone’s minds as of late. Organizers estimated upwards of 75K supporters at Families Belong Together — Freedom for Immigrants March Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, the streets of downtown were filled with protestors joined by actors such as Laura Dern, Mira Sorvino, Connie Britton as well as Vida showrunner Tanya Saracho and One Day at a Time showrunners Mike Royce & Gloria Calderon Kellett‏ and star Justina Machado. Writers and staff from latter two shows have been very vocal since the issue has become a hot-button topic in the past two weeks, urging their peers to donate to support legal services for detained separated parents and funding for their release. Also joining them were John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. Teigen gave a rousing speech before introducing Legend who played a rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and also debuted his new single “Preach.” The actors in L.A. aren’t the only ones who took to the streets and to social media to show their support. In Washington D.C., Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alicia Keys, and America Ferrera represented, but it was Orange is the New Black star Diane Guerrero whose story hit closest to home as she spoke from experience, sharing her story of separated from her parents when they were deported. Miranda also sang a lullaby rendition of “Dear Theodosia” from Hamilton to kids whose parents were taken from them at the border. Kerry Washington, Amy Schumer and Carrie Coon posted images and videos from the New York City march while Alec Baldwin and Ellen Page did the same. Organizers estimated upwards of 75,000 supporters at the Families Belong Together – Freedom for Immigrants March in Los Angeles. Over 60,000 attended the march in Chicago, while New York and San Francisco saw over 30,000 attendees and D.C. had over 35,000. Actress Felicia Day took to the live streaming service Twitch TV with Jason Ritter and Nathan Fillion for a telethon of sorts, raising money for RAICES, a non-profit agency that provides legal services to immigrant/refugee families. They will be live until 9 PM PST. Read more of the social media posts below and check back for updates. Today @LauraDern is joining the #FamiliesBelongTogether march with HBO in support of reuniting families separated at the U.S. border. For more on how to get involved visit https://t.co/dyo83baCOG pic.twitter.com/5cIYp3n7JL — HBO (@HBO) June 30, 2018 First pic of the day @familiesbelong #familiesbelongtogethermarch Los Angeles all these years later we are still trying to heed Lincoln & follow the “better angels of our nature.” #EndFamilySeparation #EndFamilyDetention #NoHumanisIllegal pic.twitter.com/kxmzraO6az — Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) June 30, 2018 Hey Tweeple! I’m here at the New York #FamiliesBelongTogether rally at Cadman Plaza. The crowd is marching across the bridge!!!!!! This is what democracy looks like. Come join us NOW. XO PS: Not in NY? Check the link for an event near you 🙏🏾https://t.co/xLKobLcWHT pic.twitter.com/63ZygRGFvH — kerry washington (@kerrywashington) June 30, 2018 https://www.instagram.com/p/BkqDFdMlJkZ/?taken-by=amyschumer