'We are Americans': Activists protest Trump's decision to end DACA

September 5, 2017 at 12:57

Thousands of protesters across several major cities gathered to denounce the Trump administration’s decision to end the 2012 program that protected illegal immigrants who arrived to the US as children.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program represents an “executive amnesty" that deliberately circumvented the legislative process, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday.

The program will wind down over the following six months, giving Congress an opportunity to pass a law regulating the status of some 800,000 people affected.

Activists angry over the decision rallied outside the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday morning.

#DREAMers came as children. They grew up in the U.S. This is home. #DefendDACA pic.twitter.com/syre5VQJx5
— Fair Imm Ref4m Mvmnt (@Re4mImmigration) September 5, 2017

Jaime Contreras, vice-president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 32BJ, pointed out his family fled the civil war in El Salvador.

First speaker denounces Trump, talks about the impacts of potential #DACA repeal #DC pic.twitter.com/43Oua5KLck
— Karla (@KarlaAnnCote) September 5, 2017

A number of protesters also rallied outside Trump Tower in New York City, chanting “We are here, we’re not going away” in Spanish and “Undocumented here to stay! Deport us? No Way!"

Others chanted: "Undocumented, Unafraid," and “Stand up! Fight back!”

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