Several hundred people from across Bucks County rallied in the county seat Saturday to make their voices heard on the government’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
The sign-carrying demonstrators in Bucks County were part of a nationwide Families Belong Together protest.
Those who attended in the nearly 95 degree heat peacefully protested the immigration policy of President Donald Trump’s administration, voiced concern on the administration’s controversial travel ban, and called on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to issue an order to shut down in-state detention facilities for unauthorized immigrants.
“We need to remind to this administration that our America is tolerant,” Alisa Dipietro told the crowd.
One focus by many demonstrators was calling for the shuttering of the Berks County Residential Center. The center holds parents who entered the country illegally with their children. Philly.com reported the facility was recently holding about 20 fathers and their children.
At a protest for #FamiliesBelongTogether in Doylestown; an immigrant high schooler said he will fight to make our country a place "for the people who want me here, and even the people who don't want me here." Tolerance is not passive. pic.twitter.com/f0CEl8ov1H
— Josh the Ar-TEEST (@heroesofcrash) June 30, 2018
Barbara Simmons, executive director of the Langhorne-based Peace Center, said the crowd should not allow “intolerance, bigotry, and hate.”
On the steps of the Bucks County Administration Building, the crowd sang Woody Gutherie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” Dipietro and her sister performed an acoustic cover of “Remember Me,” the hit Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade song from Disney’s 2017 animated film “Coco.”
Big turnout for #FamilesBelongTogether in Doylestown today. pic.twitter.com/v2clRdxyoB
— c4miles (@curmudgeonboy) June 30, 2018
Among the signs at the rally were ones that depicted a young boy in a cage with the word “no” surrounding it. Another said: “Refugees welcome here.”
The Bucks County Families Belong Together rally was put on by Rise Up Doylestown, The Peace Center, and Welcoming the Stranger. Support from numerous other nonprofit organizations, Democratic groups, and churches was provided, according to organizers. The crowd cheered as organizers thanked the supporters who came out and police officers who watched over the event.
Following the rally, a dialog was held Salem United Church of Christ in Doylestown.
