On June 28, CPD, along with our sister organization, CPD Action, partnered with the Women’s March to bring over two thousand women to the streets of DC to demand an end to the Trump administration’s inhumane and brutal anti-immigrant policies that have resulted in the separation of thousands of immigrant children from their families. Together, we brought the outrage and public pain to the doorsteps of lawmakers and federal officials who are responsible for policies that criminalize migration and tear families apart. Over six hundred women were arrested after shutting down the Hart Senate building, demanding an end to the zero-tolerance policy, the closing of all detention camps, and the abolition of ICE, an agency that is terrorizing our communities each day.

Over that weekend, hundreds of thousands of people, including affiliates from the CPD Network, took to the streets in their communities as part of the national #FamiliesBelongTogether day of action. Across the country, people of conscience marched to say families belong together in communities, not in cages. Over thirty CPD affiliates anchored rallies in their states, and centered the voices of immigrants and refugees who’ve been directly impacted by Trump’s White Nationalist anti-immigrant policies.

Affiliates from Illinois, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and many others  joined the national call to demand that separated families be reunited and Congress move to abolish ICE. In Los Angeles, the Be A Hero Fund, a project of our sister organization CPD Action, partnered with a coalition of local immigrant rights organizations to hold a massive rally in front of City Hall with over thirty thousand supporters and allies in attendance.

The country now knows what immigration enforcement does, and what it looks like. The images we have seen and the cries we have heard evoke the worst moments in our country’s history, and we can no longer turn away. We must recommit ourselves to the values of a democratic and welcoming society, and demand an immigration system that protects families and upholds the dignity of human life. This is a defining moment that will shape our generation. We must not be silent. Donate today to make it clear that families belong together, and that all humans belong in freedom, not in cages.