Protesters on Saturday Credit: Sara Tabin

At least 500 people marched in the Queen City Saturday against the immigration policies of President Donald Trump — a large protest in a city that has seen its share of marches in recent years.

Some also carried signs protesting the arrest this week of Vermont farmworker Alejandro Hernández-Ventura, a Mexican man who was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday and was arrested.

Marchers shouted “Children need their parents and their families!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! ICE has got to go!” as they walked from the top of Church Street through downtown and then on to Battery Park.

MoveOn, a progressive public policy advocacy group, declared June 30 a day of action in protest of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy at the southern border, prompting demonstrations across the country. Three Burlington residents, C.D. Mattison, Kesha Ram and Jamie Gay, organized the local rally with help from sponsors including Migrant Justice and Black Lives Matter Vermont. News of the march spread by word of mouth.

Christine Hauslein, a retired teacher from Milton who attended Burlington’s event, said that as an advocate for children, she could not ignore family separations. She said it is “sheer horror” to think that parents do not know where their children are.

“We would have a stroke if someone missed the bus,” she said. “Parents would be so upset we’d get phone calls. And now we have people who don’t even know what state their children are in.”

Related Stories

Sara Tabin was a news intern at Seven Days during the summer of 2018. She was born in Burlington but later moved to Utah, where she interned at the Park Record in Park City. She is currently a senior at Yale University and a City Editor at the Yale Daily...

6 replies on “Slideshow: Hundreds of Marchers in Burlington Decry Trump’s Immigration Policies”

  2. These protesters, no doubt, are environmentalists. Right? Now, if they would stop and consider there are roughly 20 million…. that’s right . 20 million illegals in our country. Think of their impact on our water resources; our air quality; the pollution they make; the trash they generate; the green spaces they take up; the need for housing they incur. The overwhelmed schools and the need for special educators. Then think of the taxes they don’t pay….sending much of that money back to Mexico, And then think of the high taxes we are paying. Most are a drain on our society. We are not a flop house for the world’s indigents. Send ’em packing.

  3. Where were you liberal fools when Clinton signed into law to take the kids away from the parents? Why weren’t you taking to the streets and scream dump Clinton?? Where were your voice when obama did the same damn thing? Didn’t hear or see a peep out of any of you. The pictures the media has been showing a crying kid was from 2014.. now, who was it that was president?? Any guesses.. it was— obama !!! Why didn’t you damn him?? He also deported illegals. Yet President Trump followed the law that Clinton signed and you hate Trump. Now you damn ICE. the ones who protect us… But hey you don’t want us to be safe.. Why don’t you liberal fools go down and live by the borders, and see what 99 % of these illegals do, they rob, destroy, take over people homes and they even kill, and don’t say they don’t. Oh another thing.. a lot of these children aren’t even with their parents, drug dealers tell the parents pay us and we will take your kids to America. Children are left to die, some are used in human trafficking . Bunch of Trump hating liberals.. Most of the people who were marching were from out of state…

  4. The affluent white middle- and upper-middle classes have turned out nicely, based on these photos.

Comments are closed.