Crowds gather in Westchester, Rockland to protest treatment of immigrants

On the Friday before a weekend of potential ICE raids of immigrant communities, several hundred people rallied in White Plains to hear passionate and gut-wrenching speeches from community leaders and victims of deportations. 

"Ten years ago my family was separated. I've been without my parents since I was 16," said Patricia, who didn't want to give her last name because of fear of retribution. "I don't want these kids to have to suffer like I did. I don't want them to through depression and lonilines without my parents."

Diana, who didn't give her last name for the same reason as Patricia, said she and her family came to America to escape poverty and violence. 

"Stop blaming the parents. They came here to give me a better life. Me or my parents aren't criminals for that," Diana said. "No children or families should be separated."

The rally in White Plains was one of many throughout Westchester and Rockland counties. The central message was to close the detention centers and stop the inhumane treatment of immigrant families, said Jenny Bernhard, an organizer for Indivisible White Plains. 

There were over 300 people in Nanuet protesting the same thing. 

Nelcy Garcia, of the Rockland Immigration Coalition, said they're raising awareness for what's going on at the border and "in our own nieghborhoods."

"There are so many people who don't deserve to be away from their parents," Garcia said. "Children don't deserve to be ripped away from their parents. It doesn't matter where it is."

Congressman Eliot Engel was one of many politicians who spoke, along with Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Congresswoman Nita Lowey and County Executive George Latimer. 

"This is a grassroots rally at this best," Engel said. "I'm so disgusted with the policies of the Trump administration, and it's important to have protests all over the country." 

Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2