Thousands of people rallied and marched in downtown San Diego and at the border Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown that has resulted in children being separated from their parents.

The demonstrations, among several that unfolded nationwide, capped a turbulent week in which the president agreed to halt family separations but detain families together — a directive that left border authorities unsure of how to proceed with future arrests.

As many as 5,000 people gathered for the Families Belong Together rally at Civic Center Plaza in the morning and then marched to the local offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement nearby.

In the afternoon, a more tense scene played out at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where 1,000 people or more led by San Diego’s interfaith community gathered to chant, pray and sing.


“We come here today because we are grieving for the soul of our nation,” said Bishop Robert McElroy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. “This is the line that should not be crossed.”

At one point a delegation trained in “civil disobedience” demanded to check the welfare of children there, although only adults are housed at the facility.

Authorities threatened to arrest them for trespassing after they wouldn’t leave the front entrance, and the group eventually dispersed. Another group linked together with chains blocked the road leading to the facility, preventing some employees from leaving.

California Highway Patrol Officer Jake Sanchez told reporters that six people were taken into custody after authorities declared an “unlawful assembly” in the area and repeatedly warned people who were blocking Alta Road to disperse.


“Those that chose to stay were arrested,” Sanchez told OnSceneTV.

“We respect everybody’s right to free speech and to protest lawfully, and unfortunately in this case, it just wasn’t done lawfully… ,” he continued. “Most of the people did leave upon those orders, they were able to use their free speech but they did leave the area when asked.”

1 / 30 Protestors link arms as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 30 Protestors link arms as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 30 Protesters cover the sign at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. About 1,000 people showed up to protest the separation of detained families. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 30 Rev. Kevin Ross, left, Rev. Bonnie Tarwater, and Ben McBride, Co-Director of the Pico California Project pray as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 30 Protestors link arms as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 30 Protestors link arms as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 30 People peacefully protest the separation of detained families outside of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. A number of the group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 30 People peacefully protest the separation of detained families outside of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. A number of the group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 30 People peacefully protest the separation of detained families outside of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. A number of the group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 30 Aeiramique Blake of Generation Justice chained herself to a fence to block traffic in and out the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. She and others were protesting the separation of detained families. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 30 A young girl holds up a effigy of President Donad Trump as she watches protesters near the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. About 1,000 people showed up to protest the separation of detained families. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 30 Protestors link arms as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on June 23, 2018. The group had planned to get arrested by many of them left before that happened. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 30 Miguel Avila, 18, raises up his fist as he and thousands of protesters against families being separated at the border march down Broadway as they head toward the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 30 Dorothy Menard holds her son Charles, 4, as her husband Justin Menard holds their other son Francis, 11-months, as they and thousands of other people attend the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 30 Simmons Leyton, 13, wraps himself in a mylar blanket, as way to protest the conditions of children that are given the same kind of blankets while held in holding facilities after being separated from their parents. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 30 A demonstrator holds a sign during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 30 SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2018 | People watch the Families Belong Together rally from a balcony at Golden Hall in downtown San Diego on Saturday. | Photo by Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune/Mandatory Credit: HAYNE PALMOUR IV/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS San Diego Union-Tribune Photo by Hayne Palmour IV copyright 2018 (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 30 A demonstrator holds a sign during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 19 / 30 Mark Lane, an advocate for immigrant rights, speaks during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 20 / 30 In response to a request by one of the speakers for the rally, people attending the Families Belong Together rally hold up their fists. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 21 / 30 SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2018 | People fill the Civic Center Plaza during the Families Belong Together rally in downtown San Diego on Saturday. | Photo by Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune/Mandatory Credit: HAYNE PALMOUR IV/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS San Diego Union-Tribune Photo by Hayne Palmour IV copyright 2018 (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 22 / 30 Sharmon Rice, center right, from San Marcos, holds up a sign during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 23 / 30 Eight-year-old Mia Burns draws in an area where children can do chalk drawings during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 24 / 30 People hold a signs during the Families Belong Together rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 25 / 30 Dorian Rodriguez, 23, center left, who is from Chula Vista, holds up her fist as she and thousands of protesters against families being separated at the border march down Front Street as they head toward the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 26 / 30 After marching from the Civic Center Plaza, demonstrators stop in front the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building on Front Street. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 27 / 30 Jeff Valenzuela raises his fist while he and other demonstrators gather in front the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 28 / 30 After marching from the Civic Center Plaza, demonstrators stop in front the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building on Front Street. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 29 / 30 Demonstrators hold signs while in front the Edward P. Schwartz Federal Building. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 30 / 30 Demonstrators, from left, Bernadette Latin, Linda Burke, and Carol Montes, all wear jackets in response to the jacket First lady Melania Trump recently wore, which had â€œI REALLY DONâ€™T CARE, DO U?â€ written on the back, while they leave the Families Belong Together rally and march. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

The downtown event had already been planned for this weekend when President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the separation of children from their parents upon arrest at the U.S.-Mexico border.


The White House has said that the separation was not a specific policy but a natural consequence of being detained and prosecuted for a crime. Beginning in mid-April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions launched a “zero-tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute all illegal border crossings. Since then more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents.

But after images and audio of distressed children prompted a public uproar, Trump changed course and ordered a halt to the practice — raising new questions on where and how to detain families crossing the border illegally.

Late Saturday evening, the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services announced that a process has been established “to ensure that family members know the location of their children and have regular communication after separation” so that families can be deported together.

“The United States government knows the location of all children in its custody and is working to reunite them with their families,” DHS officials said in a statement. The office added that 522 children separated under the zero-tolerance policy have already been reunited with parents and that another 16 were expected to be this weekend after being delayed by weather.


Fletcher Morrow, 20, of La Mesa, who attended the morning rally with a friend, echoed the sentiment of many when he said he is waiting to see every family reunited.

“The fight is not over until it’s over,” he said as he finished scribbling a message on a cardboard sign he planned to carry. “You can’t take Trump’s word. He created the problem. Until you know that every one of those kids are back with their families, this isn’t over.”

Helping organize the morning protest was San Diego Indivisible, a grassroots group that its leaders say is dedicated to “fighting the Trump agenda.”

Wendy Batterson, one of the group’s leaders, was the first among a roster of speakers that included Democratic congressional members, a teacher, a pediatric nurse and an Iranian refugee.


Rev. Kevin Ross, left, Rev. Bonnie Tarwater, and Ben McBride, Co-Director of the Pico California Project pray as they peacefully protest the separation of detained families at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune )

“Shame, shame, shame!” Batterson yelled at one point, with the crowd echoing the chant and cheering.

In an interview, she insisted that the downtown rally was “not a political rally, it’s a rally about humanity. I want people to help me say no to separating families. Now we are criminalizing families and using it as an excuse to lock them up and keep them in detention centers as families.

“This rally is going to show that people are not going to sit home and turn their backs,” she added. “People are not going to be silent.”


The many homemade signs held aloft during the gathering attested to the rally participants’ indignation with the Trump administration and its handling of immigrants and refugees.

“Where’s the humanity?” said one. “Regime change starts at home,” said another. Many signs played off the controversial coat that First Lady Melania Trump wore while boarding her plane earlier this week before a visit to a children’s shelter in Texas. On the back of her coat was the message “I really don’t care, do U?”

The protesters Saturday showed off their own versions: “Yes we care!” and “I really care, do U?”

Following nearly two dozen speeches, the crowd made their way through the streets of downtown to the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Office Building, led by Aztec dancers.


The marchers, following the lead of volunteers with bullhorns, shouted multiple chants throughout the procession: “We are not done, we are just getting started,” “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” and “Enough is enough.”

Carolyn Stables, struggling to control her emotions, explained why she had come to the march with her husband, Gordon, from their home in Rancho Bernardo. Her grandparents, she said, had immigrated to America a century ago from Poland and Russia to escape persecution, just as today’s immigrants are trying to do.

“It was rough for them, but they made it and they were successful, and their children went to college and served in the Armed Forces,” she said of her grandparents. “I think everyone deserves a second chance. I couldn’t not be here today.”

The demonstration in Otay Mesa took on a more religious tone, as civil rights groups joined with the Roman Catholic diocese, nondenominational pastors, a rabbi, a Sikh and others.


Jerry Berger of Carmel Valley said he decided to join the Otay Mesa event after reading about it on his phone Saturday morning.

“It’s the first demonstration I’ve done since the 1960s,” Berger said. “I think I went up to Delano to protest with Cesar Chavez.

“This has really moved me,” he said of the immigration crisis. “I am so glad to be here. I feel like I’ve been all talk, and haven’t done anything. This makes me feel less guilty.”

Demonstrators shouted chants like “Estamos contigo,” “No estan solos” and “No cages, no walls,” as they marched past the razor wire and steel cyclone fence of the detention facility, and a few shouts were heard back from the inmates inside.


Speakers at the demonstration focused on the pain of separating children from their families.

“We are here to save these children who are precious unto us,” said the Rev. Ben McBride, co-director of the faith-based group PICO California that led the Otay Mesa event.

“Give it all you’ve got,” he told the protesters. “They’ll come for your children next.”

Another clergyman, Sacramento pastor Les Simmons, said the protests and demonstrations will continue “until these kids are back with their families.”


“We have to be the moral conscience of America,” Simmons said.

The detention center was the site of a visit a day earlier by Sen. Kamala Harris, who was joined by hundreds of protesters there to denounce Trump’s immigration policy.

Many more rallies have been planned nationwide for next Saturday under the rubric of Families Belong Together, described as “a coalition of Americans who oppose the mistreatment of immigrant families, and indeed all immigrants, by the current administration and past administrations.”

The group’s website says marches are set to happen in downtown San Diego, El Cajon and Encinitas.


Demonstrators also said they planned to return to the detention center next weekend.


kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis