Holding signs reading “Bienvenidos a New York,” and “Te amamos,” hundreds of New Yorkers flocked to LaGuardia Airport Wednesday night, following reports that possibly hundreds of migrant kids, including children torn from their parents by the Trump administration’s barbaric “zero tolerance” policy, are being transferred to facilities in the state. As outraged New Yorkers tweeted updates and scrambled from terminal to terminal, one organizer said that over one million people watched through a livestream:
Immigration advocates posted photos and videos of other groups of children who appeared to be unaccompanied minors arriving at La Guardia. Cristina Jimenez of United We Dream told the New York Post that she saw several children arrive around 9:30 p.m. “I saw a few of them coming out with plastic bags,” said Jimenez. “What I saw just broke my heart. They looked terrified.”
Earlier that day, American Airlines had issued a statement that it would not transport kids separated from parents, and according to The New York Times, delayed one flight from Dallas-Fort Worth until they had assurances from the government that the children onboard weren’t separated as a result of the policy. “But a cluster of flight attendants who had been on board stood nearby after the children deplaned, visibly distraught. ‘They lied to us,’ one flight attendant said.’”
Meanwhile, “Trump’s executive order,” Make the Road New York organizer Antonio Alarcon told Daily Kos, “does not solve the crisis that he has caused. His order does not reunify children with their parents and instead expands his detention of entire families.” According to NY Mag, “activists said they intend to continue drawing attention to the plight of children taken from their families,” with as many as 2,000 separated kids still not reunited with their parents.
“Last night, I witnessed first hand how children are still being separated,” Alarcon continued. “It was our duty as New Yorkers to be present yesterday and show these kids that they are not alone, and that we will continue to fight until they are reunited with their parents and all families are released from the cruelty of detention centers."
Can you give $5 to help keep immigrant families together—or bring them back together after separation?