Hundreds march to support immigrants, denounce Trump

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On Saturday around 500 people gathered in downtown Vancouver for the “Families Belong Together: March for Immigrant Families.”   

March organizers, the Clark County chapter of MoveOn, said the goal was to speak out against President Trump’s immigration policies and practices, raise community awareness and pressure the Trump administration to end its “inhumane immigration policies and practices” and instead address the matter with compassion and bipartisanship. 

Other local progressive groups that joined the march included Indivisible Greater Vancouver, ACLU, National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Leadership Alliance.

The march was one of many held nationwide on June 30, all protesting President Trump’s immigration policies. 

Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” initiative on illegal border crossings that launched in May, more than 2,300 children were separated from their families at the border after illegal crossings. The parents went to federal jails and the department of Health and Human Services took the children into custody.

After public outcry, Trump signed an executive order to rescind the policy on June 20. However, there are still more than 2,000 children that have yet to be reunited with their families.

On Tuesday, June 26, a federal judge ruled that immigration agents must work to reunite the families within 30 days from the ruling. Children who are younger than five years old must be reunited with their families within 14 days from the ruling.

It is unclear if it is possible for families to be reunited that quickly or where those families will be kept after reunification. When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar appeared before a Senate panel on June 26, he said his department had 2,047 children in its care.

The march started at the office of Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and snaked down to Esther Short Park. 



During the march and once gathered at the park, the demonstrators broke into a number of chants.

“Love, not hate, that’s what makes America great” and “say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” were the most repeated. 

Many demonstrators were fashioned with signs.

“Be empathetic not pathetic — families belong together” and “What if it was your child?” were among the many homemade signs. 

Once at the park, the demonstrators gathered around a makeshift stage were a number of local progressive leaders spoke and led in more chants. 

Among the speakers was state representative candidate Tanisha Harris, who hopes to unseat Vicki Kraft in the 17th Legislative District this fall. 

“It was important for me to stand with our immigrants, to stand with our communities of color, to stand with our marginalized communities — to let them know that they’re loved, they’re wanted, they’re appreciated,” she said after the rally. “Anyone that is here in America needs to know that they matter and that they’re important.” 

 — Katie Hayes / The Chronicle contributed to this article