Despite Trump signing an executive order ending his administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, more than 300 people showed up last night to protest the practice, filling all four corners of State and Anapamu streets. Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, a Chicana and Chicano studies professor at UC Santa Barbara and one of the organizers of Wednesday night’s event, said that while ending family separation is good, “there is still so much wrong that it would be ridiculous to call off the event.”
The protest was originally planned to be a quiet, peaceful vigil. But once the group gathered, one person started chanting, and it became a vocal protest as attendees made their way over to the Sunken Gardens. “People wanted to get a little louder,” said Sandoval. “I think it worked.”
Demonstrator Jatzibe Sandoval comes from a family of immigrants. “I cried a couple of times,” she said, “It’s beautiful knowing we have allies. This is an emotional topic for a lot of us.”
