U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore spoke to hundreds at the Milwaukee Families Belong Together March last Saturday.
The heat didn’t silence angered citizens Saturday afternoon, as hundreds gathered in downtown Milwaukee to protest actions taken by President Trump’s administration regarding families detained at the U.S./Mexico border.
Protesters gathered at the Milwaukee Federal building, less than a block from the Pfister Hotel, where President Trump spent the night last week Wednesday. Hundreds of similar marches took place across the country, with many individuals wearing white T-shirts as a sign of peace.
“There is no warmth, that is warmer than the touch of your mother,” said U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, who spoke last at the rally. “These kids, when united, will have tremendous PTSD and suffer lifelong mental, physical and health consequences.”
Moore wore a Mylar blanket around her neck while speaking, in solidarity with children who are given similar blankets at ICE centers when they are separated from their families at the border. She said that she visited an ICE center a week earlier and saw firsthand the conditions many children live in at the border. “There ain’t no religion, nowhere that supports separating babies,” she said. “We need to do justice and love mercy.”
Hundreds of supporters chanted and held signs during the march, which took place at the Milwaukee Federal building.
The event was organized by Move On, and Voces De La Frontera, a community organization that organized a May Day immigration march in Waukesha that attracted thousands of supporters. Alma Regalia, a mother who came to the United States from Honduras nearly 30 years ago, said these types of rallies give her hope.
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“People need to come together and support each other, especially when we know that these kinds of things are happening,” she said. “I thought this country wasn’t built that way. I don’t know what’s happened over time with all these other people. In the past, I feel like people used to be a little closer together, supporting each other.”
Protestors chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” as signs that said, “Stop separating families,” and “Save refugee children” were displayed. Some who took part in this protest also joined a similar protest last week that temporarily stopped traffic on Interstate 794.
Lusciana Gomez came to the rally to support her father Gabriel Gomez, who announced his campaign for state assembly last weekend.
“It shouldn’t be a question whether or not you can keep your family,” she said. “This group of people, we have so much compassion and so much love and I think we can take that love and take that heart and take it to Washington and take it to Madison and make things right.”
