At Least 130 Rallies Are Planned Nationwide To Protest Immigrant Families Being Torn Apart
(CNN) -- President Trump may have caved to increasing pressure when he signed an executive order reversing his administration's family-separation policy, but his about-face has not quelled outrage among some critics.
Hundreds of rallies are planned as part of a Families Belong Together national day of action on Saturday, June 30, to protest the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which remains in effect.
Advocacy groups such as MoveOn, the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union have joined in, and at least 130 rallies in 48 states are planned -- including a main rally in Washington's Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. More than 13,000 people have RSVPd on Facebook that they plan to attend the Washington protest.
In the executive order he signed on Wednesday, Trump declared it is his administration's policy to "maintain family unity," including by detaining entire families together "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources."
But event organizers, in a post Wednesday night, said the executive order "is not a solution to the crisis created by his administration; it keeps kids imprisoned indefinitely, and doesn't reunite thousands of separated families. But it does show the administration is reacting to public pressure, so we will continue to increase our pressure for justice ..."
While Trump's executive order ended the administration's controversial separation policy, the future remains unclear for the estimated 2,300 children and their families already affected.
Those separated children are in facilities or foster homes spread across numerous states far from the US-Mexico border, and so far the administration has not provided details on how it plans to unite the children with their parents.
"[President Trump's] alleged solution to a crisis of his own making is many months too late. It is a crisis that should not have happened to begin with. He has caused irreparable damage to thousands of immigrant families," said ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero in a statement Wednesday.
