'Families Belong Together' Protest Scheduled June 30

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Dominating headlines, news broadcasts, social media posts and talk shows the last two weeks has been the controversial practice of separating immigrant parents from their children by U.S. border patrol and law enforcement. This latest issue with the Trump administration has fueled a movement that is organizing protests all over the country June 30, including one in Birmingham.

The "Families Belong Together" protests will occur at noon throughout the country Saturday, June 30, and Birmingham's version of the protest will be held at Caldwell Park on Highland Avenue.

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The overall message from the cause is outlined in the organization's event description, saying, "Donald Trump and his administration are cruelly separating children from their families. But we won't allow it to continue. On June 30, we're rallying in Washington, D.C., and around the country to tell Donald Trump and his administration to stop separating kids from their parents!"

The protest aims at bringing attention to the Trump administration "systematically criminalizing immigration and immigrants, from revoking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to ramping up intimidating ICE tactics."

The controversy surrounding the separation of immigrant families has involved one of Alabama's own politicians in U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions' June 11 ruling said that immigration judges generally may not consider domestic abuse and gang violence as grounds for asylum in the United States.

Pushing back against the criticism, Sessions quoted Scripture Thursday in a Fort Wayne, Indiana, speech on immigration. He said recent criticisms by the bishops and others are not "fair or logical," and said some were "contrary to the law.

"I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order," he said. "Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful."

The religious community has criticized Sessions, and many leaders of the Catholic Church have come out publicly against the Sessions ruling.

In a statement released last week, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called asylum "an instrument to preserve the right to life."

"The Attorney General's recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection," DiNardo said. "These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives, particularly in cases that involve asylum seekers who are persecuted by private actors."

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

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