San José: Rally to Stop Trump Policy that Separates Immigrant Children from Parents

[Photos by Jack Owicki, free for reuse by non-profit organizations, please credit the photographer.]


On June 14, hundreds of immigration and children’s rights advocates rallied in San José, California in protest against the Trump administration policy that separates children from their parents along the US border. Many people joined rallies across the country that Sunday for the same reason.

A New York Times investigation estimated that more than 700 children, including 100 under the age of 4, had been taken from their parents on the US/Mexico border between October, 2017 and April of this year. The paper cited federal Department of Homeland Security officials as their source. Other sources reported that the new Trump policy has resulted in the dividing of nearly 2,000 children from their parents between mid-April and the end of May of this year.

While parents are held in jail, their children are sent to separate detention facilities. Online videos show immigrant children being held in concrete-floored cages at detention centers. The administration’s “zero tolerance” policy provides for the arrest of all adults caught trying to enter the United States without documentation, including those seeking asylum.