A protester is taken away in front of a detention center of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in downtown Los Angeles, the United States, on July 2, 2018. Seventeen protesters were arrested when they rallied outside the detention center on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)
LOS ANGELES, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen protesters were arrested on Monday when they rallied outside a detention center of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in downtown Los Angeles.
Waving postcards such as "Reunite families now, Stop abusing children" and "Abolish ICE," dozens of protesters gathered outside of the entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center to protest the federal immigration policy of separating families detained illegally crossing the U.S. border.
Police began arresting people for unlawful assembly around 11 a.m. local time, and there was no clash between the demonstrators and policemen.
The Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy resulting in over 2,000 children separated from their families who crossed the border illegally has sparked domestic and global outrage.
In the latest act of mass resistance, tens of thousands of people, from coast to coast, in the rain or under the burning sun, took to the streets across America on Saturday to fight Trump's immigration policy.
Among the 17 arrested was Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who addressed the crowd of peaceful demonstrators emotionally, saying "Our government is inflicting knowing, intentional trauma upon the most innocent and the most vulnerable."
Bonin also told local CBS news channel before the rally that some of the detained parents are being held in ICE's downtown Los Angeles building.
"It's disgusting and sinful and evil," Bonin said, adding "We absolutely must bear witness to this horror, and we must stand up and stop them."
