More than 600 gather in Edmonds to protest family separation

A crowd of more than 600 mobbed the Westgate intersection on Saturday morning to raise their voices in protest against the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for immigration law enforcement, a policy that has separated thousands of families since it began in June of this year.

The event was organized by local activist and mom Kelsey Foster.

“I got the idea to do this about a week ago, and put a notice up on Facebook,” she said. “From there it just spread by word of mouth. Having a local event makes it easy for families to participate, and just look at this amazing turnout. And even for the folks just driving by, it’s important for our neighbors to see that their neighbors care enough to come out and make their voices heard. ”

Local elected officials attending included State Rep. Strom Peterson (D-Edmonds), Edmonds City Council President Mike Nelson and City Councilmember Adrienne Fraley-Monillas.

“This is very encouraging, and it comes at a time when we’re seeing very discouraging stuff in lots of places,” Nelson said. “This is a healthy thing for democracy. It’s not partisan politics. People see a wrong and they want to point it out. It’s part of the bedrock of what America is.”

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel

  1. I don’t think the protesters really care about this issue. It is an issue, but where were they a couple years ago? I’m on travel and watch TV only at hotels. I see where misinformation comes from. They tell them what to care about, and when.

  2. I can recall watching an interview with Obama in 2014 where he voiced his concerns about all the children from Central America coming here alone. He told the families not to send them and the children already in shelters would be sent back. This is not a new issue

    1. 2014 news coverage is sobering from hysterics:
      https://youtu.be/ct5fJhcPKs8

      These protests are too easily dismissed as partisan. That’s why voices need to be consistent. None of them protested the destruction of Libya. Its not too late to care, but they are appropriating humanitarianism and will leave it to wash up on a beach after ‘their team’ is in office.

      1. I agree with you that most people here are only protesting because it is trendy, and not because they actually care, but that 2014 news clip is about unaccompanied children crossing the border. The children at issue currently came WITH there parents only to be separated by the Trump administration policy.

        1. Anybody arrested must be separated from their kids to be arrested. ICE, sure, Departments of Human Services does this everyday in every state to American families. Lots of families are ruined, kids taken away, due to marijuanna arrests. Asking why people don’t simply stay away from weed is just as fair of a question as why don’t they just go to a border gate. Nobody responsible would risk their kids over either. The reason why asylum seekers from Honduras didnt claim asylum in Mexico, then didnt claim asylum in the US, is because if they did either theyd become documented. Whether or not theyre really claiming asylum is besides the point, they are choosing to be undocumented because of the ambiguity of our Birth Right Citizenship psuedo-doctrine and defered action immigration enforcement, both are moral hazards other countries have avoided, such as Japan and Australia respectively.

  3. No new issue at all. I agree most of the protesters have absolutely no idea the history behind the issue. Get rid of ICE are you kidding? Another showing that they have no idea what would happen if that happened. Most people do not want to get rid of ICE. Just had a major polling on that last week. Is this what happens when history is NOT being taught? Glad I wasn’t using the ferry.

    1. It seems to me that this is the “protest of the week”. I’m not saying the situation isn’t important it is
      People just jump on the band wagon of whatever the current issue is with not alot of research. It’s great to be in a country where our voices can be heard…know the facts,

  4. Where are the protesters when we separate parents and children when the parent is put in jail and the child is put into the system; shouldn’t the children in theory be able to join the parent in jail? Are we forgetting these are people who are breaking our laws; I am not sure why they are given more rights than any of us. I don’t want to see the families split up any more than the protesters but we need to find a way not to encourage unlawful behavior no matter who you are.

    1. No one going through the ports of entry legally are being arrested. Any of them could walk or ride to the gate and claim asylum (like those refugees that fled Libya after President destroyed the country, turned it over to ISIL). Decades of not enforcing the law, followed by DACA which was neglecting to enforce the law, combined with our archaic migrant worker beuraucracy, with Edmonds wanting to be a sanctuary city which is overt nullification of law, encourages people to work with cartels and coyotes to break the law. The protestors are effectually encouraging parents to give their daughters the Plan B pill and to give their daughters to human trafficers. With all this encouragement, we’d all do the same. Trump’s [admittedly ham-handed] announcement that he was going to crack down on illegal border-jumping, created a sense of urgency to break the law. Maybe he should have ramped up instead of immediately cracked down. How do you pull off a whole bunch Bandaids left on for decades?

      1. Both Lori and Matt make very good points. What about “unlawful” do people trying to enter the US, not understand?

  5. If Edmonds were a place where illegals were attempting to come into the country, it would be a different story. It’s so easy to be an armchair quarterback on things that don’t really affect you. Not every illegal who attempts to come into this country is seeking asylum. Many are gang members and part of the drug cartel. Many are smugglers of cocaine an heroin. And some of those innocent children are being trafficked into this country for prostitution. There should be vetting of both children and adults who come here. The issue at hand is so much more complicated than “families should not be separated.” Those families coming to the US, without coming through legal ports of entry, are first of all committing a crime against the United States. Should we have compassion? Yes, absolutely. And families, who are confirmed as actual families, should be kept together. But remember that parents who are citizens in this country, who commit crimes, are automatically separated from their children. Should we throw open our nation’s borders? By no means. This is a complicated issue. I urge caution on taking one side or the other until we have all the facts. ALL OF THEM. Mainstream media is neither fair nor balanced, and not a good place to get a true picture of the entire situation.

  6. The EU is considering Asylum Processing Centers outside the EU. Could the US do the same thing?

  7. No matter how a person feels about immigration, asylum seekers have a right to a hearing and to be treated with respect. The US signed an international agreement agreeing to this, and some of the people crossing the southern border are asylum seekers. Some are not being let on the bridge for legal crossing.

    There are statistics from past years showing that those who cross the border do wait for and attend scheduled hearings, that there is a very low crime rate, and hopefully all agree that separating kids from parents is cruel and traumatic. It’s the no tolerance policy that is causing big problems, and by information information tweeted by our President that isn’t substantiated by fact.

    No one WANTS to be an immigrant. It’s a desperate and last resort choice for survival.

    We do need to work to improve the immigration process, and I hope that is worked on with thoughtful discussion, taking facts into consideration, and humane steps to see what might work for us and for those looking to come to our country.

    Thanks, Kelsey, for organizing a local event so that it was easy for so many Edmonds neighbors to participate. And how great that some city council people came. I’m voting for people who support humane treatment of immigrants!

      1. Matt, you have this exactly right, “arguing against points no one is making”. This is Congress’ job to legislate on this, not executive order. President Trump trying to get Congess to act on immigration, both legal and illegal. Politically, our senators and congresspeople do not want to come to the table, as it is a political hot-potatoe. Pramilla Jayapal would rather be with Susan Sarandon in DC and get arrested instead of bringing legislation to the forefront.

        1. I have family who moved with us from NYC. What surprised her the most when she got here was the deferred action (the DA in DACA) on Seattle’s busses, verse NYC. In Seattle she describes people free-riding on the bus, just jumping on and rushing to the back. Policy dictates that the driver has to just accept them. In NYC the bus doesnt move until they pay or get off, so it doesn’t happen in NYC like Seattle. She says “Why am I still paying?” rhetorically, but it is a great question. Defered action encourages more lawlessness. It creates tragedy of commons. Asylum seekers could have claimed asylum in Mexico, could have claimed asylum at our border, but the moment they plead for asylum they become documented.
          Even if they cross illegally they could claim asylum by filing a form with USCIS, they won’t be detained. They are actually choosing to be undocumented, they are exploiting deferred action, ambiguity in our Birthright Citizenship, and the political apetite for new voters of the Democrat Party.

  8. Nice work protesters. I was down in SeaTac at the Federal Detention Center with supposedly 10,000 likeminded peeps. Super proud to see my feel Edmonds citizens out rallying for doing the right thing. I was out there with you when the Muslim Ban came down. There’s lots of people in our little berg willing to put a name and face on doing the right thing, not everyone is looking no further than the end of their nose. I’m terribly disheartened by the lack of heart and charity harbored by my compatriots across the nation. We aren’t being overrun and visa overstays are larger than our problems at the border. Most are just looking for a better life for them and their kids away from certain death and destruction in their mother land. Most immigrants do not commit crimes but work towards achievement for themselves and their families. If you watch the news it’s white folks gunning people down in most instances not immigrants. I’m tired of the pants p—ing and the abdication of the values that have made our country GREAT. We are a nation of immigrants, made stronger by immigrants. “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”—Malcolm S. Forbes Don’t bother lecturing me haters, there’s a million just like ya, I’ve heard it all before. Janeen G. Cook (Mom) brought me up right and I care about people, even if they can do nothing for me, man.

  9. Perhaps you too should look beyond your own nose. Go on U-tube to see the problems that mass illegal migration has brought to Europe and Scandinavia. “Its white folks gunning people down”, is this statement not hateful and bigoted? It seems that you are the “hater” doing the lecturing.

    1. Even though what was said is a bit racist, it does offer a chance for meaningful dialog. Thanks to Michael. It’s usually kids without dads who radicalize in school. There are too few male role models in school, and the women who dominate that industry are great, they do thier best, but are having a dificult time understanding masculinism, combined with teen angst, combined with the emotional handicap of not having an involved dad, often combined with prescription drugs. Council member Mike Nelson is proposing a law where we will be penalized for not locking up guns in our home. Silly. The solution is actually to have Nelson’s proposed lock-boxes in schools, and some trained teachers. I trust the teachers to save my children’s lives, whereas the PD’s havent been performing to the level we all expect. Some schools have been arming teachers for decades.

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