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Hundreds Of Protesters Gather At LaGuardia Airport As Separated Migrant Children Arrive In New York

Carissa Dunlap

Hundreds of protesters went to LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Wednesday night to show their support for migrant children, who were flown into the state, under the Trump administrations “zero-tolerance” border policy.

According to New York Magazine, more than 200 children were supposedly being transferred to facilities in the state. Activists flooded every terminals to protest the separation of children from their families at the US-Mexico border.

Many were carrying signs in Spanish, saying “We’re with you” and “You’re not alone”, NBC New York reports. They also sang “We Shall Overcome” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” in the terminal.

Even though Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday announcing families at the border must be detained together while parents await trial, federal officials said they wouldn’t make an effort to reunite the 2,300 children who’ve already been separated, CNN reports. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services later back tracked, saying that they were waiting for further directions, according to New York Magazine.

“We are here in LaGuardia because many of these young immigrants who have been criminalized and separated from their families were put on flights and sent to other parts of the country, including here in New York,” said co-founder and executive director of United WE Dream Cristina Jimenez to CNN.

The New York Times posted a video on Wednesday night of seven boys carrying government labeled belongings arriving at LaGuardia on an American Airlines Flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airports. Police then escorted them to a van with tinted windows. Since then, several US airlines have asked the government to not place separated children on their flights.

According to NBC New York, the federal government has millions of dollars in contracts with local New York programs, who are now receiving children separated from their parents. In East Harlem of New York city the Cayuga Center is housing 239 migrant children.

More separated children are expected to arrive throughout Thursday in LaGuardia Airport to be transferred to centers in New York.

Carissa Dunlap is a Her Campus News X Social Intern for Summer 2018. She is a current Publishing major and Journalism minor at Emerson College (Class of 2020). When she isn't perusing the YA bookshelf at the bookstore, she can be found watching dog videos on Facebook, at her favorite coffee shops, or relaxing on the beach. Follow her on Instagram @dunlapcarissa or Twitter @Caridunlap.