Thousands protest Trump family separation policy

Large gatherings in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Vallejo, Richmond and Concord, along with more than a dozen smaller events around the Bay Area, took place Saturday to protest of the Trump Administration policy of separating undocumented immigrant parents from their children when trying to enter the United States at the Mexican border.

The Bay Area events were among more than 700 protests and rallies scheduled throughout the nation, ranging from gatherings of tens of thousands of protesters and marchers in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, St. Paul, Austin, Texas and elsewhere to small protests with dozens of people in smaller towns.

Saturday’s actions were organized loosely under the banner of “Families Belong Together,” a cooperative campaign that included backing from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org and other national and local groups.

At Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people gathered to protest the administration’s separating of families – more than 2,000 children had been separated from parents or other guardians in the past two months. That group marched to the Civic Center for a rally.

In Concord, hundreds of marchers went from the BART station several blocks to Todos Santos Plaza in the middle of downtown this morning. Earlier this week, the City of Concord was reacting to a Time magazine report that the former Concord Naval Weapons Station was being considered for location of a camp that would house as many as 47,000 detained immigrants. By Wednesday, those plans were shelved, at least for now.

The downtown Oakland protest drew more than 2,000 people, and the San Jose event attracted an estimated 1,000.

That doesn’t mean the Trump Administration has any plans to relax its policy of separating families at the border. The president tweeted Sunday, “When people come into our Country illegally, we must IMMEDIATELY escort them back out without going through years of legal maneuvering. Our laws are the dumbest anywhere in the world.”