Demonstrators Converge On Downtown Baltimore To Protest Border Policies
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Under mounting political pressure, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to end family separations at the border.
"We're going to have strong, very strong borders. We're going to keep the families together. I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated," Trump said.
The action, however, does not end the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that led to more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents.
RELATED: Trump Reverses Course, Signs Executive Order To Keep Migrant Families Together
Under the order, families will now only be protected from separation for 20 days. Beyond that, it's possible families could be split up again.
The administration has also noted children already separated will not be immediately reunited with their loved ones.
"What he's done is not a permanent fix to the problem," protester Delane Lewis said.
Lewis protested outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices in downtown Baltimore. Things heated up between some protestors when some decided to cause a scene.
The protest, which initially started on the sidewalk, spilled out on the street -- prompting police to shut down the road.
Among the hundreds of protestors were several parents and their children.
"Taking care of kids resonates with kids, so this was something that was not a hard sell for them to get behind," parent Angie Quinn said.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on a more long-term, comprehensive immigration plan.
"This is very good compromise legislation that not only solves the child separation issue at the border, it also solves the border. It solves DACA, it solves a lot of our broken immigration parts," House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
Some immigrant advocate groups remain skeptical and plan to continue putting pressure on the administration.
"Continuing to expose this is the only way we're going to be able to defeat it," said CASA organizer Lydia Walther-Rodriguez.
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