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A surging crowd gathered in downtown Mountain View Saturday night to protest President Donald Trump’s policy of separating undocumented immigrant families trying to enter the United States at the Mexican border. The rally, which by some estimates drew as many as 3,000 people, was among the largest political demonstrations in Mountain View, drawing attendees from neighboring cities.
It was clear that the separations of immigrant families had touched a nerve for many, including those who normally haven’t been active on the issue, said Phil Cosby, a Mountain View resident.
“There was a lot of outpouring of solidarity from people who honestly aren’t that affected by our immigration policies, but who see the injustice of our administration,” he said. “We shouldn’t need the sight of tearing children away from families to get our country to act.”
The event was among more than 700 protests and rallies scheduled throughout the country on June 30, ranging from huge gatherings of tens of thousands of protesters and marchers in places like New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, St. Paul, Minn., Austin, Tex. to small-town protests that drew dozens of people. They were organized loosely under the banner of “Families Belong Together,” a cooperative campaign that included backing from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org and other national and local groups.
The event began at 7 p.m. with sign-waving demonstrators who gathered at the corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street. Participants then marched to Civic Center Plaza for a rally and candlelight vigil for immigrant parents who have been forcibly separated from their children. Speakers at the rally included Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel and East Palo Alto’s vice mayor Lisa Gauthier.
Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, more than 2,000 children have been taken from parents or guardians in the past two months. Thousands of migrants, including those seeking asylum, have been taken into custody and held in detention centers for prosecution, deportation or an asylum hearing.
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Lane closures planned this weekend for El Camino Real overpass in Mountain ViewJanuary 23, 2026 1:32 pm
How many of these people are protesting immigration policy and how many are protesting white supremacy?
If I break the law and get arrested, I go to jail. There is no law that says if I break the law and if I have kids, then I will not go to jail.
If you do not want to be seperated from your kids, do not break the law.
Illegal aliens are breaking the law by entering the country illegally. Many have been previously caught and deported only to return again, which is a felony.
99% of these illegals have been coached by attorney’s from the US, who went to different Latin American countries, to say “I am seeking asylum”, which is pure BS.
These pictures of kids in “cages” being shown are from when Obama was president, not Trump.
Mark Penn, who worked for Pres. Clinton, said a month ago that a poll they did showed that Hispanic’s have shifted 10 points over to Trump, and that 4% of Democrats have moved to Trump. That is the reason for all this fake outrage, the Dem elites want to stop the defection over to Trump.
Ah yes, the Dem Elites. Let me guess, are you one of Trump’s Super-Elites? I hear you’re supposed to have bigger boats apparently?
@YIMBY,
“Ah yes, the Dem Elites. Let me guess, are you one of Trump’s Super-Elites? I hear you’re supposed to have bigger boats apparently?”
I am one of the few who actually pay’s state taxes in this state. If the darn taxes would not be so high in this state, I might be able to afford a boat. Because we have the Democratic party being open borders and a sanctuary state to 3 to 5 million illegals costing tax payers $23 billion dollars a year in just education and health care every year, I can never hope that this state can get it’s fiscal house in order and cut taxes so that I can afford a boat.
But Trump said that his Super-Elite supporters have bigger boats! Where’s your boat? All I’m seeing are excuses.
No, you are wrong.
Trump said he and his supporters have bigger hands, not boats.
We’re both wrong. It wasn’t bigger boats, it was nicer boats.
“We got more money, we got more brains, we got better houses and apartments, we got nicer boats, we’re smarter than they are and they say they’re the elite. You’re the elite, we’re the elite,” he said, branding the elite “stone cold losers” and adding: “Let’s call ourselves, from now on, the super elite.”
Trump is not stealing money from my wages, I am getting lower taxes for this years wages from him, unlike this State Democratic party who is constantly raising taxes on everything to pay out the $Billion’s of dollars that the illegal’s are costing tax payer’s in this state.
Thank god for the many people who worked hard to get the repeal of the gas tax and vehicle license fee increase on the November ballot. Democrat’s never seen a tax that they did not vote to increase.
Ok, that didn’t really have anything to do with your nice boat though.
You can also thank Trump supporters in this state after the repeal of the gas tax in November passes. Gov. Brown and his supporters did everything they could to stop the ballot initiative and the recall of Newman, including changing the rules after the fact to make it harder for the public to do. They had to go into court and have a judge tell Brown and associates that they can not do that.
You can also be sure the the Democratic Elite’s will tell all it’s members to vote NO on the repeal.
So just admit it — you’re so greedy, you don’t care if everything around you crumbles and collapses. Because that is EXACTLY what is going to happen with the GOP’s short-sighted policies.
But I guess that doesn’t matter to you…
We went to protest children being taken from their parents. We went to say it is time to take care of each other no matter who you are or where you are from. Rich, poor, white, brown, black. bi or tri-racial, we are all humans. At the end of our lives, we are not going to care if undocumented people were our neighbors, were not, cooked our food, cleaned our houses or were educated to be whatever they want to be. Humanity. I am so saddened that people think the president’s actions are ok. And yes, I know it went on during Obama’s time, but he would not get off on seeing people in fear and pain. We were marching and he was golfing, Watch his live rallies. You support what he says.
They were protesting because they don’t want families to be separated at the border once detained. That’s it. Pretty simple. It’s in the article as well.
A lot are using children that are not theirs to illegally come over. They know it pulls at the heart strings. Their not stupid.
And what about when they leave their families to come over here. Why doesn’t it matter keeping the family’s together then? They have been doing this for years.
Generally, when someone commits a misdemeanor, as both shoplifting and unauthorized presence are, we don’t lock them and their children in a detention camp in the desert. We usually don’t, then, reassign their children to a foster family with no means of reunifying them upon release. Weird how these things are suddenly acceptable because “muh borders.”
Why was is acceptable when Obama did it?
It did not “suddenly become acceptable”.
We, as a nation, do not have the money to pay for the billions of dollars that millions of poor and uneducated illegal aliens that are coming into this country illegally.
Start by caring for the homeless people on our own streets, the veterans who need help, and our own tens of millions of US citizens living in poverty. All the time, money and resources that is being spent on illegal aliens makes me sick as that money should be used to take care of our people first.
Do not cross the border illegally, keep the family together-in their country not ours.
You misread “suddenly acceptable” because you were waiting for the “but Obama did it too!!!” retort. It’s great seeing a mind just triggering impulse response seeded by Fox News. Guess what, Obama’s border policies were pretty bad too!
I’m in agreement with you, though, we shouldn’t be spending all this money on detention camps, ICE, deportation proceedings, foster families for kids we’ve torn from their parents, “muh wall!!!” and more. We’d be much better off using those funds to support people here, documented or un. It’s wonderful that even in these partisan times we can both see the wastefulness of these short-sighted, un-American policies.
@ @LOL
Obama didn’t intentionally separate children from families that crossed the border. This is specifically a policy implemented by the Trump administration. And it hasn’t been applied only to illegal immigrants caught after crossing the border, but to immigrants presenting themselves and requesting asylum.
Something tells me the political party you belong to is the same one that’s been voting down bills to help those groups and passing other bills that further cuts their aid. “Entitlements” and all that.
It’s *not* the law, it’s an immoral and inhumane policy choice by racist Trump.
Illegal border crossing is a misdemeanor not a felony and they do not take your kids away for other misdemeanors like traffic violations right??! Asylum seekers can’t start a legal process in their home country—- that’s the freaking point of people fleeing a war or disaster or death squads for asylum.
Obama did *not* do this. You are confusing separating families (what Trump is doing now) vs detaining unaccompanied minors (kids that came with a non relative coyote).
Stop watching Fox News and learn about the world!
Maybe you should start watching Fox news, and other news sources besides MSNBC and CNN. Open your mind and stop listening to the same echo chamber who only spouts off talking points to be repeated by it’s minions for the sole purpose of dividing this country and knocking the Republicans down so that Dem’s can get back in power.
People are fleeing from unspeakable – rape, rape of their children, torture, gungs taking your children to make them killers.
People are fleeing from regimes US have been complicit to establish & have been supported for years – both GOP & Dem administrations.
Close your eyes, Jim, Diana, “It’s The Law” & others – & imagine YOUR family in this situation, in places where is no US Consulate to apply for an asylum, but even if there were, no time to wait for years for it granted…
I am one of the organizers of this event. We worked hard to include a wide array of groups and wonderful speakers. To name a few, Together We Will Palo Alto Mountain View, SIREN, PACT, NAACP, Congreation Beth Am, Los Altos United Methodists Church, Mountain View Voices for Peace and Justice, and the Day Worker Center (sorry if I missed anyone!) we had wonderful speakers, include Mayor Lenny Siegel, most of the city counsel, and members of the communities most affected by horribly cruel immigration policies and the Muslim Ban. We were protesting the ongoing treatment of children being separated from their parents who are seeking asylum from horrible violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, some of the most violent countries on earth. Parents are willing risk anything to protect their children from that. Empathy and compassion for what these people have lived through doesn’t mean we support open borders, just we don’t want to demonize people who are trying to protect their kids. Immigrants make America Great. The event was full of hope and heart, and I felt energized by the amazing crowd and words of our speakers. VOTE in NOVEMBER!!!
Hey Sergei, how many rubles/bottles of vodka do you get for posting that toxic waste here?
@MP
If it were really true that these people wanted asylum, there is a process for doing that. It does NOT involve crossing multiple borders to get to the one you want. It also doesn’t involve trashing the country you enter. Germany and Sweden were happy to allow thousands of refugees to cross their borders with little to no vetting of the individuals who entered. The thanks they got for their generosity is huge spikes in crime, including gang rapes of sovereign citizens of those countries. What happened to the rights of the hundreds of women who have been raped? Are those women now supposed to put aside their rights so that these “refugees” can bring the practices that help make their own countries unlivable along with them? That’s insane.
If you are upset that criminals are being separated from the children they bring here (many of these children are not with their actual parents), then I suggest they build some facilities at the border with three secure sides within the United States and the fourth side with free access to the Mexican border. If those detained are really upset about their conditions, they are free to leave – back into Mexico. Another solution would be to offer those entering a free bus ride to the Canadian border. Canada has lots of space and I’m sure their PM would be happy to allow them to enter his country – no questions asked. Surely the Left could get behind this idea. After all, they spend most of their time telling us all what a terrible, racist, sexist, fascist place the US is. They wouldn’t want those poor migrants and refugees to have to settle in such an awful place.
These demonstrations are nothing more than excuses for the Left to vent their spleens on those who dared to vote for someone other than their chosen candidate. The fact that the husband of that candidate established the policy they are claiming to be angry about doesn’t matter, nor does the fact that their idol, Obama, did nothing to change it. It also doesn’t matter that President Trump has corrected the issues they claimed to have (which have magically changed to different issues now) with the policy. Much like the old Monty Python skit, Democrats don’t even bother to construct a cogent argument anymore. All they do is contradict whatever policy President Trump enacts.
As long as the Left acts like a pack of spoiled toddlers, screaming for mom and dad to buy the 8 foot tall stuffed teddy bear because all they have at home is one that’s 7 feet tall, I will tune out the yelling and go about the business of life. I refuse to be lectured to about morals by people who defend the actions of people like Maxine Waters and Peter Fonda.
“As long as the Left acts like a pack of spoiled toddlers, screaming for mom and dad to buy the 8 foot tall stuffed teddy bear because all they have at home is one that’s 7 feet tall, I will tune out the yelling and go about the business of life.”
Funny — it was the alt-right that were doing EXACTLY what you accuse the “Left” of doing. And they mixed in killing of people to boot.
Pot, meet kettle.
Let’s keep all families together.
United in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvadore.
Re-unite families in other countries. Makes sense. Admit 7 billion persons from other countries. No thanks. What immigration laws do protesters want? None?
It’s hilarious that people who break laws are protesting the consequences of violating the law. Like a thief got caught when shoplifting, and suddenly this thief became a victim because he was sentenced and put into jail.
It’s really interesting how the same people keep making inflammatory and race-baiting comments and insults in order to distract from the topic at hand. In this case, it is that fact that people were out protesting something that doesn’t exist.
First, the border enforcement policies of the President were not for the intent of “separating families” at the border, but to make sure that the border is enforced. To make this clear, he even signed an executive order almost 2 weeks ago that requires families to be kept together ( https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-to-keep-families-together-at-border-says-zero-tolerance-policy-will-continue )
So what is it that these people are really protesting? In my opinion, this seems to be more a campaign to disinform people, as well as to inflame people’s passions. If you can draw people into an emotional argument, rather than a rational argument, then it is easier to get them to accept things that make no sense; such as having no border enforcement and allowing everyone who wants to come to the US to walk right in with no questions asked.
I am all for LEGAL IMMIGRATION, and I wish that the Democrats and Republicans would fix the system so that requests could be processed within a few weeks instead of taking years or decades.
The fact is that neither party wants to fix the system so they can use illegal immigrants as pawns and as a wedge issue to keep us all distracted while they ruin and loot the country. That is also why Trump won!
While the President ran as a Republican, his policies and the way he does things are more those of an independent. That is why there were so many Republicans that declared themselves “never-Trumpers”, including the Bush family. The President has exposed the rampant corruption in both parties and has embarrassed them by showing how quickly and reasonably problems can be resolved. That is why both parties have tried to sabotage the changes the President has been implementing.
No one complains that they have to use specific ports of entry at airports, so why should entering the country be any different? If you try to sneak onto a plane without going through security first, you’re arrested. End of story. The bottom line is that if the immigration system was fixed, no one would have any objections to having the wall built since only those people who were entering for illegal purposes would need to avoid the legal ports of entry.
Those people who support illegal entry into the country are in effect supporting the continued exploitation of the very people that they claim to care so much about. I’d be more impressed if they were protesting for the border to be as secure as our airports and a system for rapid immigration processing to be implemented. If the IRS can process hundreds of millions of complicated tax returns within a few weeks, why can’t the government do the same with immigration and work requests? Think about it!
Jim Neal
Modesto, Ca
(Formerly Old Mountain View)
Jim Neal is mostly right – Maybe I should say correct. We know he is always right. But Trump and AG Sessions did (and do) want to discourage illegal entry at the southern border by separating the adult misdemeanants from their children, if any. It is punishment that does not fit the crime. We could discourage jaywalking with the death penalty. Few persons would jaywalk but as to jaywalkers, should they be executed? Rules are rules but there are other considerations. Many of the minors who cross illegally are led by persons NOT THEIR PARENTS and that process places those minors at grave risk of harm and death. Even parents who bring their own children to the USA illegally are putting them at great risk. There are no easy answers when BILLIONS of exploited and abused humans all want to reside in the USA. So would we – if we lived in most other places in the world.
You’re all missing the point.
Our immigration policies have created the entire “problem”.
In the 1960’s, 70’s and even into the early 1980’s illegal immigrants came to the U.S. to work but would go home frequently.
They didn’t stay. They didn’t bring their families. They came, worked, went home.
But once we started putting tighter and tighter controls at the border it made it harder to cross. So what happened? The guy who would use to come by himself would bring his family because he couldn’t get back to them as easily.
But don’t let facts get in the way of a good argument.
Why doesnt Mexico grant them asylum?
They speak the same language and they are closer.
Answer: Because Mexico has strict immigration policies (as do most countries)
unlike the U.S.A. which has a hodge podge of regulations and loopholes which has precipitated a 1700 pct ( yes that is a fact) increase in asylum requests from Central America.
These “resist” people are reacting emotionally, not rationally, and the shameful democrat party is stirring them up, fanning the flames for political reasons.
If we cant detain these people while they are being processed, how can we vet and separate the bad apples and non-legitimate claims?
(Oh, that’s right, you want ‘Stop and Release’…and the elimination of ICE as an effective law enforcement tool and essentially open borders… such a good idea…Not).
You should join up with George Soros after he gets booted out of Hungary which has had it with his diabolical nonsense.
TWW CCL,
yes we will vote in November, and try to remove as many of the lunatic fringe democrats as possible from this state.
Corrections to your diatribe and thinly concealed leftist rhetoric:
It is not a Muslim ban, its a ‘travel ban’
from many of the most dangerous countries where Islamic extremism and terrorism is a real problem (have you checked out France and Belgium lately?); and if you have a reasonable reason to come here, you can appeal and your case will be considered, whether you are a Muslim, Christian, Jew, or whatever.
“Horribly cruel immigration policies”
It is not cruel to protect our borders and enforce the law… someone needs to do it. I dont hear you suggesting an alternative, so I assume you support “Stop and Release” whereby many people never show up for their hearings and are absorbed into our society, undoubtedly taking advantage of our welfare system and medical care.
Trump administration is doing the right thing, and I believe the vast majority of Americans support strict immigration control done in a humane manner of course… we will see how this shakes out in the midterms thruout the country.
By the way the cages were all photographed during the Obama administration, mostly in 2014.. fact check it.
By the way, the word you want is “Council” not “counsel”… or were you thinking of your radical ACLU buddies who are helping perpetuate this nonsense.
Why weren’t they in Washington DC??? Protesting in MV is like preaching to the choir.
@ @psr
What are you talking about? The only attempted killing of people of the opposition was the shooter who opened fire on a group of GOP congressmen playing baseball. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t “alt-right”, whatever that is.
As for a pot calling the kettle anything, check the mirror. If any conservative ever did to a Democrat what has been done to conservatives since 2016, it would still be blasting from the rafter on CNN and MSNBC.
I suspect that, if you had a point, you could have made it. Vague allusions do not a cogent argument make.