President Trump praised the ‘great and brave men and women of ICE’ on Saturday morning in a pair of tweets which came as thousands across the country prepared to protest against family separations at the border.
In a pair of tweets at around 7am, the president said he had ‘watched’ ICE ‘liberate’ entire towns from gangs and said they were responsible for ‘eradicating the worst criminal elements’.
‘To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit. You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements.
‘So brave! The radical left Dems want you out. Next it will be all police. Zero chance, It will never happen!’ he said.
In his first tweet, he fumed: ‘The Democrats are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen.
‘I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13 & clean out the toughest of situations. They are great!’
President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to commend the ‘brave men and women of ICE’ as thousands planned to protest his immigration policies across the country
In a third tweet, he went on to discussing his conversation with King Salman of Saudi Arabia
He then went on to tweeting about Saudi Arabia’s King Salman who, he said, he had asked to increase oil production.
In that tweet, which was peppered with typos and grammatical errors, he said: ‘King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference…
‘Prices to high! He has agreed!’
The tweets came as thousands of people around the country prepared to take to the streets in protest over the now defunct family separation policy at the border.
More than 600 marches could draw hundreds of thousands of people across the country, from immigrant-friendly cities like Los Angeles and New York City to conservative Appalachia and Wyoming under the banner Families Belong Together.
Though many who show up will be seasoned anti-Trump demonstrators, others will be new to immigration activism, including parents who say they feel compelled to show up after heart-wrenching accounts of children forcibly taken from their families as they crossed the border illegally.
The president is in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the weekend with his family. He is pictured arriving on Friday with the First Lady and his son Barron
Ivanka and Jared Kushner joined the president for the weekend with their son Joseph
In Portland, Oregon, for example, several stay-at-home moms have organized their first rally while caring for young kids.
‘I’m not a radical, and I’m not an activist,’ said Kate Sharaf, a Portland co-organizer. ‘I just reached a point where I felt I had to do more.’
Immigrant advocacy groups say they’re thrilled – and surprised – to see the issue gaining traction among those not tied to immigration.
‘Honestly, I am blown away. I have literally never seen Americans show up for immigrants like this,’ said Jess Morales Rocketto, political director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which represents nannies, housekeepers and caregivers, many of whom are immigrants. ‘We just kept hearing over and over again, if it was my child, I would want someone to do something.’
Saturday’s rallies are getting funding and support from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and The Leadership Conference. But local organizers are shouldering on-the-ground planning, many of them women relying on informal networks established during worldwide women’s marches on Trump’s inauguration and its anniversary.
Protesters chant slogans as they march during a demonstration calling for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and demand changes in U.S. immigration policies, Friday, June 29, 2018, in New York
Tyler Houlton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, welcomed interest in the immigration system and said only Congress has the power to change the law.
‘We appreciate that these individuals have expressed an interest in and concern with the critical issue of securing our nation’s borders and enforcing our immigration laws,’ Houlton said. ‘As we have indicated before, the department is disappointed and frustrated by our nation’s disastrous immigration laws and supports action.’
Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to show his support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid calls from some Democrats for major changes to immigration enforcement.
Tweeting from New Jersey, Trump said that Democrats ‘are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen.’ He urged ICE agents to ‘not worry or lose your spirit.’
In Portland, Sharaf and other mothers who organized the rally hope to attract 5,000 people.
Right-wing activists with the group Patriot Prayer also have a permit to march later in the day Saturday and the Portland Police Bureau said Friday they planned to have a heavy police presence.
Sharaf and co-organizer Erin Conroy have coordinated with immigrant advocacy groups.
More than 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents at the border and are now living in designated detention centers. The policy has been scrapped, allowing new families who get caught trying to enter the US to remain together, but those who are already apart do not know when they will be reunited
‘This is not my wheelhouse,’ Conroy said. ‘As far as I’m concerned, this is a national emergency that we all need to be focused on right now.’
That passion is heartening for the broader anti-Trump coalition, which hopes marches will attract people who have otherwise been on the sidelines, said David S. Meyer, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has authored books on U.S. political protest.
‘There are people who have all kinds of other grievances or gripes with the Trump administration and they’re quite happy to use this one as the most productive and salient for the moment,’ he said.
Immigration attorney Linda Rivas said groups have met with U.S. authorities, congressional representatives and other leaders to discuss an escalating immigration crackdown that they say began decades ago. But the family separation policy has been a watershed for attracting a broader spectrum of demonstrators, she said.
‘To finally have people on board wanting to take action, marching, taking to the streets, it’s been motivating for us as advocates because we have to keep going,’ Rivas said.