Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Louisville Thursday to voice opposition to the Trump Administration’s treatment of migrant families along the southern border.
Protesters held signs condemning ICE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and Trump's separation policy. Under the administration's zero-tolerance policy for illegal immigration, adults caught crossing the border are prosecuted under federal law and detained during the criminal proceedings. Their children have been separated from them and held in separate facilities.
Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to end the separation of families. Instead, families will be detained together while awaiting court proceedings. The order does not say what will happen to the over 2,000 children who have already been separated from their parents.
"What the leadership of ICE is doing, frankly, should constitute as crimes against humanity," protester Karl Swinehart said. "I think they should be tried. They're criminal; what they're doing is criminal."
Many of Swinehart's fellow protesters expressed similar feelings.
Caraline Feairheller said regardless of the law, separating children from their families is wrong.
"The law does not determine morality or what is good in this country," Feairheller said.
Meagan Winters teared up as she talked about children being separated from their parents. Winters said she has two children, ages 5 and 8.
"It has to stop; it has to stop, and we can't wait to vote people out who will let it happen," Winters said. "We have to come up with something right this second."
James Flynn helped organize the event. Flynn, who is a Catholic priest, said the people who support the practice of separating children from their parents should remember another type of law that exists.
"There's another law that they're breaking also ... the law of love your neighbor, which is thousands of years old," said Flynn. "It's also reiterated by Jesus that you must love your neighbor as yourself. He said it twice."