Police arrested 25 demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies ahead of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ scheduled visit to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s protest outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles comes hours before Sessions is expected to address the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation’s annual meeting. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), and several other pro-open-border groups, led the protests through the city’s downtown core, before arriving at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
Scenes from protest are circulating on Twitter.
Protesters were seen chanting, “Sessions, where’s your heart?” and “Children stay, Sessions goes.”
Protesters also carried signs reading “Free the children!” and “stop caging families.”
“As a United Methodist, and he’s a fellow United Methodist, this is not right, and this is not part of our Christian teachings or our values or our beliefs, said Rev. Allison Mack of North Hollywood United Methodist Church.
One man was spotting wearing a mask of President Donald Trump, holding a sign that reads “Know your enemy.” “Sessions, you’re not welcome in our communities and your hatred is not welcome in our communities,” immigration activist Jose Montez said at the rally.
Immigrant rights advocates are demanding a judge order the release of immigrant parents separated from their children at the U.S. border and their reunification.
Attorneys on Monday asked the federal court in Los Angeles that is overseeing a longstanding settlement governing detention conditions for immigrant children to include their parents as plaintiffs.
The complaint filed by pro bono law firm Public Counsel on behalf of three Central American mothers whose children were taken from them by U.S. authorities in May argues that families need to heal from the trauma of forced separation together and outside the confines of detention.
Attorneys allege the mothers are fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the U.S.
The Department of Justice declined comment on the matter.
The Trump administration has asked the court to let authorities detain families together during immigration proceedings to try to discourage illegal immigration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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