Gazebo Gazette
Saturday, June 30th, Harrison & Hancock County residents rallied at the Bay St Louis/Pass Christian bridge as part of the Families Belong Together national day of action to protest the White House policy of separating children from their parents, the detention of families, and the failure to reunite thousands of children with their parents, according to the event organizer, Rachael Ramsey.
“It’s a peaceful statement of our opinion,” said Ramsey, before she began the March. “Let’s get rid of the cages and let’s stop separating families.”
The march was part of a National “Families Belong Together” Day of Action featuring more than 710 events in all 50 states and an anchor protest in Lafayette Square in Washington DC.
Specifically, the protest’s intention was to attempt changing a few national policies. According to Ramsey and the group, the policies of change would be to:
- Reunite families now. Permanently end family separation and immediately reunify those that have been separated. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release parents immediately so that Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) can reunify them with their children.
- End family detention. Children and families deserve due process, not indefinite imprisonment. Children do not belong in baby cages and internment-like camps. Family incarceration is not the solution to family separation.
- End ‘Zero Humanity.’ Reverse the White House policy that created this crisis and chaos to begin with. Parents should not be criminally prosecuted for doing what all parents do, which is bring their children to safety.
