Immigrant rights activists from the East Bay packed into buses early Wednesday and traveled to Sacramento with the goal of backing sanctuary policies under fire by the Trump administration.
The activists, fueled by images of child detention centers where migrant children are being detained separated from their parents as they await immigration hearings, were slated to rally at 8 a.m. in defense of California's three sanctuary bills. They were then scheduled to protest at 10 a.m. outside the federal building where a sanctuary policies hearing is planned.
Organizers with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance said it is time for Californians to stand up in support of immigrant communities.
"I think now as Jeff Sessions challenges the different sanctuary policies we have in California, I think we as Californians have a moral duty to rise up and protect all immigrant communities amidst what's been revealed to be happening behind detention centers and the different kinds of abuses that have come into light," Juan Prieto with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance said.
An estimated 2,000 children are in the custody of the federal government, living separated from their parents.
Sen. Diane Feinstein's "Keep Families Together Act" has received the support of 49 democratic senators on a bill that would bar family separations, which started with the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy in April.
