At protest of Trump immigration policy, a clash over tone, message

Tensions over who controls the message about what's happening to immigrant children and asylum seekers boiled over at a protest in Phoenix on Wednesday morning.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., to talk about the plight of immigrant children who have been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Dulce Juarez, 31, was telling the crowd how she could have been separated from her mother when she entered the U.S. as a 5-year-old, and one of the protest organizers, Tory Roberg, tried to snatch the megaphone away from her.

"You need to stop complying with the system," Juarez managed to say before she was cut off.

"Let her speak!" several others around her yelled. "Shame."

The "Playdate with our Senators" demonstration put on by End Family Separation, which bills itself on Facebook as a group of dedicated moms in the Phoenix area, called on Flake and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to support recently introduced Senate Bill 3036, the Keep Families Together Act.

Introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Keep Families Together Act would prohibit children from being separated from their parents within 100 miles of the U.S. border, except for instances of abuse, neglect or other specific circumstances. Every Senate Democrat is now a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Juarez later explained to The Arizona Republic that organizers told her she could only speak into the bullhorn if she had a message of love and peace. Juarez said she believes abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement is such a message.

She said immigrants need to be at the forefront of the fight because they are most impacted, and that organizers didn't want her to speak because what she had to say conflicted with the group's agenda.

MORE: Trump signs executive order on immigration, says 'zero tolerance' will continue

"It's really sad to think if my mom and I were to be separated at the border. I cannot imagine," Juarez added. "That's why we have to do something about it, and everybody should be saying, 'Stop the criminalization of migration.'"

Roberg later told The Republic that she was trying to keep the peace when she took the bullhorn because she feared the rally would escalate into conflict and violence after hearing "angry words about the police."

She said she felt terrible, and it was a mistake to react that way. When asked, Roberg also denied that the exchange was an orchestrated stunt — Roberg is a lobbyist and non-profit consultant, and Juarez is a community activist and former employee of the ACLU of Arizona.

"It was the wrong move. So many Black and brown voices are being marginalized and silenced under our current administration and as a White woman, I need to help amplify those voices, not shut them down out of fear," she added.

The demonstration finished up Wednesday morning before President Donald Trump issued an executive order to keep migrant families together. The order was drafted by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, but its contents were not immediately clear.

Prior to the executive order, licensed counselor and social worker Laurie Rosales stood at the intersection of 22nd Street and Camelback Road, clutching two stuffed toys while holding a sign that read "shame." The toys were being collected for delivery to children held in detention centers in Arizona.

Rosales said it was a "travesty of justice" that children were being separated from their parents.

"They're not taking into account the long-term, irreparable damage, psychological, physical, social, of these children," she said.

Counter-protesters stood on the opposite side of Camelback Road at 22nd Street, asking protesters why they care about undocumented immigrant children more than American children.

"(It's) an invasion of our country. ... We don't want to see families separated but we want our border enforced and we want our laws enforced," said Lesa Antone, of Patriot Movement AZ.

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