Thousands of protesters gathered around cities throughout the United States to protest an immigration policy from US president Donald Trump's administration. Singer John Legend serenaded the crowd on Saturday in Los Angeles, while his wife Chrissy Teigen (who carried their 6-week-old son Miles with her) gave a speech at the rally.
“I’m incredibly proud to be the daughter of an immigrant. My mother grew up in a very small village in Thailand and she never lets me forget it,” she said, adding that “America at its best is big, beautiful and diverse, like our great city of Los Angeles.”
In Washington, DC, an estimated 30,000 marchers gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House in what was expected to be the largest protest of the day, stretching for hours under a searing sun. Firefighters at one point misted the crowd to help people cool off.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical Hamilton, sang a lullaby dedicated to parents unable to sing to their children. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys read a letter written by a woman whose child had been taken away from her at the border.
In Trump's hometown of New York City, another massive crowd poured across the Brooklyn Bridge in sweltering 90-degree heat, some carrying their children on their shoulders, chanting, "Shame!" Drivers honked their horns in support.
Though seasoned anti-Trump demonstrators packed the rallies, others were new to activism, including parents who said they felt compelled to act after heart-wrenching accounts of families who were torn apart.
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