
Thousands of protesters across the country have taken to the streets for coordinated protests against family separations at the border.

The marches are planned in cities across the US including New York, Washington DC and Atlanta. There are also hundreds happening for the same cause in countries around the world.

Organizers have branded the events Families Belong Together.

Their hope is to put pressure on the government to speed up the reunion of migrant children who have been separated from their families as they tried to enter the US illegally.

More than 2,300 remain in detention centers on the border and they do not know when they will be reunited with their relatives.

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NEW YORK CITY: Protesters march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday as part of the protest against family separation at the border

NEW YORK CITY: In Manhattan, thousands took to the streets to protest against the now scrapped family separation policy which has sent thousands of migrant children to detention centers on the Mexican border

NEW YORK CITY: A female protester holds a sign up at the Manhattan protest. More than 2,000 children are still in detention centers and there is no clear plan or timeline for them to be reunited with their families

NEW YORK CITY: A protester holds a sign with the Statue of Liberty on it. The statue is a symbol of immigration and the benefits of it and has been invoked by critics of the zero tolerance border policy for weeks

NEW YORK CITY: Protesters in Manhattan hold signs up calling for an end to the separation of families on the border

NEW YORK CITY: A male protester holds a sign with the president's face photo-shopped onto the body of a baby. The detention centers are designated for children and adults meaning babies have been taken from their parents

NEW YORK CITY: Protesters marched under banners with the event's slogan 'Keep Families Together' on Saturday

NEW YORK CITY: Protesters marched from Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York on Saturday

At the event in Washington DC, stars including Alicia Keys and Lin Manuel Miranda gave passionate speeches imploring the crowds to vote and 'not back down'.

'Our democracy is at stake. Our humanity is at stake. We are out here to save the soul of our nation. We need all the children reunited to their parents.

'We demand to end the zero humanity policy. We need to save the supreme court. We need to vote. Because when we vote, we win,' Keys said, before leading the crowd in a chant of: 'We're not backing down.'

As the marches gathered pace on Saturday morning, Trump took to Twitter to praise ICE, whose agents are who physically separated the families.

President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to commend the 'brave men and women of ICE' as thousands planned to protest his immigration policies across the country

In a pair of tweets at around 7am, the president said he had 'watched' ICE 'liberate' entire towns from gangs and said they were responsible for 'eradicating the worst criminal elements'.

'To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit. You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements.

'So brave! The radical left Dems want you out. Next it will be all police. Zero chance, It will never happen!' he said.

In his first tweet, he fumed: 'The Democrats are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen.

'I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13 & clean out the toughest of situations. They are great!'

He then went on to tweeting about Saudi Arabia's King Salman who, he said, he had asked to increase oil production.

In that tweet, which was peppered with typos and grammatical errors, he said: 'King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference...

'Prices to high! He has agreed!'

Though many who showed up to the marches were seasoned anti-Trump demonstrators, others were new to immigration activism, including parents who say they feel compelled to show up after heart-wrenching accounts of children forcibly taken from their families as they crossed the border illegally.

WASHINGTON DC: Crowds gathered on Lafayette Square opposite the White House on Saturday. The president is in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the weekend

WASHINGTON DC: Protesters outside the White House on Saturday. They gathered on Lafayette Square

WASHINGTON DC: The protest on Lafayette Square was one of hundreds happening across the US and overseas

WASHINGTON DC: Demonstrators outside the White House on Saturday as part of an enormous protest

WASHINGTON DC: Alicia Keys and America Ferrerra spoke at the event in Washington DC on behalf of migrant mothers who have been separated from their children

Lin Manuel Miranda performed at the Washington DC rally

In Portland, Oregon, for example, several stay-at-home moms have organized their first rally while caring for young kids.

'I'm not a radical, and I'm not an activist,' said Kate Sharaf, a Portland co-organizer. 'I just reached a point where I felt I had to do more.'

Immigrant advocacy groups say they're thrilled - and surprised - to see the issue gaining traction among those not tied to immigration.

'Honestly, I am blown away. I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this,' said Jess Morales Rocketto, political director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which represents nannies, housekeepers and caregivers, many of whom are immigrants.

'We just kept hearing over and over again, if it was my child, I would want someone to do something.'

Saturday's rallies are getting funding and support from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and The Leadership Conference. But local organizers are shouldering on-the-ground planning, many of them women relying on informal networks established during worldwide women's marches on Trump's inauguration and its anniversary.

Tyler Houlton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, welcomed interest in the immigration system and said only Congress has the power to change the law.

CHICAGO: Thousands gathered at Daley Plaza in Chicago on Saturday for Illinois' protest

BOSTON: US Senator Elizabeth Warren hugs Dem. Rep. Joe Kennedy III at the rally in Boston where they both spoke

PHILADELPHIA: In Pennsylvania, crowds gathered in Philadelphia to contribute to the nationwide event

NEW JERSEY: In Bedminster, where the president is spending the weekend, a protester drove a car past the golf club where he is staying

INDIANAPOLIS: In Indiana, protesters gathered in Indianapolis with signs and chanted against the policy

NEW MEXICO: Protesters took seats in Civic Plaza in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to listen to speakers

OKLAHOMA: Protesters gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday to share their support of the movement

DENVER: A woman wear a jacket with the words 'we should all care' taped onto the back at the Colorado protest in a jab at First Lady Melania Trump's choice of wardrobe when she went to visit the child detention centers earlier this month. Melania's jacket (shown right) said 'I really don't care, do u?'

The president is in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the weekend with his family. He is pictured arriving on Friday with the First Lady and his son Barron

More than 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents at the border and are now living in designated detention centers. The policy has been scrapped, allowing new families who get caught trying to enter the US to remain together, but those who are already apart do not know when they will be reunited

'We appreciate that these individuals have expressed an interest in and concern with the critical issue of securing our nation's borders and enforcing our immigration laws,' Houlton said.

'As we have indicated before, the department is disappointed and frustrated by our nation's disastrous immigration laws and supports action.'

In Portland, Sharaf and other mothers who organized the rally hope to attract 5,000 people.

Right-wing activists with the group Patriot Prayer also have a permit to march later in the day Saturday and the Portland Police Bureau said Friday they planned to have a heavy police presence.

Sharaf and co-organizer Erin Conroy have coordinated with immigrant advocacy groups.

'This is not my wheelhouse,' Conroy said. 'As far as I'm concerned, this is a national emergency that we all need to be focused on right now.'

That passion is heartening for the broader anti-Trump coalition, which hopes marches will attract people who have otherwise been on the sidelines, said David S. Meyer, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has authored books on U.S. political protest.

'There are people who have all kinds of other grievances or gripes with the Trump administration and they're quite happy to use this one as the most productive and salient for the moment,' he said.

Immigration attorney Linda Rivas said groups have met with U.S. authorities, congressional representatives and other leaders to discuss an escalating immigration crackdown that they say began decades ago.

'But the family separation policy has been a watershed for attracting a broader spectrum of demonstrators, she said.

'To finally have people on board wanting to take action, marching, taking to the streets, it's been motivating for us as advocates because we have to keep going,' Rivas said.