MARSHALL — The thought of forcibly separating children from their parents and caging them in detention centers was horrifying said the concerned individuals who showed up to protest recently at Rep. Collin Peterson’s Marshall office.

The peaceful protesters called the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy a cruel one. More than 2,300 children were separated from parents during a five-week period under the under the policy, which sought to detain and potentially prosecute all people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally — without making exceptions for families and those seeking asylum.

“I’ve lived in this country for 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Adela Hernandez said. “Stop the inhumane separation of families, please.”

While bipartisan outcry forced the halting of the practice, thousands of children already separated have not yet been reunited with their parents.

“We are asking Collin Peterson to demand the current administration return migrant children separated from their parents to their families and put an end to this barbaric, racist and corrupt practice,” said Shawn Butler, a member of Marshall Area Peace Seekers (MAPS), which along with Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Assembly of Civil Rights) Marshall chapter, spearheaded the action outside Peterson’s office as well as a peaceful vigil later in the day at Memorial Park. “We certainly appreciate everything Congressman Peterson has done to this point, but more is required.”

Butler said the cages on display represented the thousands of children currently “locked up — many of them in for-profit detention centers.”

“This administration has sadistically monetized and demonized refugees, many of whom fled their countries because of violence or object poverty,” he said. “Parents of these incarcerated children frequently come from dangerous situations in their home countries.”

Butler continued, stating that the indecent efforts could “commonly be traced back to United States imperialism practices over the last 100-plus years in Central and South America. Ignoring this truth, the current administration continues to rip families apart with no regard to them as human beings. This disgusting practice is unnecessary and shows the ruthless disregard for humanity.”

Butler said that every day that the children remain removed from their families, the more damage is being done to their development and long-term health.

“We ask the congressman to demand the executive branch uphold the oath taken to honor the Constitution and more specifically, the 14th Amendment,” he said. “These vulnerable people fleeing under tremendous hardship and danger seeking refuge in our country need to have their due process and equal protection under the law.”

Immigrant rights groups and individuals who were allowed access to some of the facilities say some of the conditions are inhumane and unconstitutional, with many sleeping on the floor and only in possession of silver emergency thermal blankets. At least one warehouse used chain-link fences to separate people there by age and gender. Some recently-released detainees reportedly said they’d been held in a very cold “freezer.”

Translated by a friend, James Gutierrez, a young woman named Rosie shared her testimony.

“I know what it feels like to be in a center of detention,” she said. “I was there for four days. There, it was very cold. They just gave me one blanket for myself and my daughter.”

Rosie explained that the experience was “very bad.”

“I had the interview and they sent me to another detention center in Texas,” she said. “I was there for a month. I felt upset because I could not communicate with my family. I came here to seek asylum because I was scared.”

While she was grateful that she was not separated from her 2-year-old daughter — they were detained shortly before the zero-tolerance policy went into effect — Rosie said she still felt a great deal of fear and helplessness.

“I was with my daughter who is 2-years-old and fortunately, they did not take her away from me,” Rosie said. “But at that detention center, my daughter got sick and I could not do anything. I only had to wait until she could get better.”

While Trump reversed the zero tolerance policy and issued an executive order requiring families to be held together in detention, there appeared to be no plan to reunite children already separated from their families. On June 26, however, federal judge Dana Sabraw from San Diego, California, issued a national injunction in the American Civil Liberties Union’s class action lawsuit against the Trump administration policy at the border. The judge ordered the government to reunite all children by July 26.

Minnesota and democratic officials from 16 other states and the District of Columbia also sued the Trump administration to force the federal government to reconnect families torn apart while attempting to cross the U.S. Border.

“There’s a reason why I’m here (at the protest) and that is because I have — not genetically — brothers and sisters who are being separated from their parents and this is how they feel,” said Gutierrez, who had a large metal collar around his neck that was attached to heavy chains. “Kids like my little cousins are being taken away from their parents and they’re being put in cages, and this is how they feel”

Gutierrez said enslavement is part of an ugly past for the United States.

“It happened to the Indians, it happened to the African Americans and now it’s happening to Latinos,” he said. “I think all those cultures and most Americans, even, do not want that to happen anymore. The public of the people are tired of the injustice that is happening in this country. I’m tired. My family is tired. And that’s why we need a change.”

In a letter to Congressman Peterson that was read by MAPS member Tom Flynn, “humane and comprehensive immigration reform legislation that goes beyond the rhetoric and executive orders passed down by our current White House administration” is desired.

“Our foremost hope is that you will put your influence behind legislation that helps hard-working immigrants, by providing pathways to citizenship, writing laws designed to protect families and other vulnerable members of society and taking action to protect those living in border communities,” Flynn said.

While they appreciate the positive words Peterson has shared in the past regarding the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents — often referred to as DREAMers — Flynn said the issue “has now been conflated to include those seeking asylum at our borders, where parents and children have been forcefully and intentionally separated” and deserves action to remedy the situation and damage.

Flynn added that the continual flow of alarming rhetoric stemming from Washington is only heaping fuel upon a dangerous fire.

“We hear new words from the White House administration almost every day that unfairly represent and invalidate both people seeking asylum at our border as well as the millions of immigrants currently on the path to citizenship in the U.S,” he said. “Your response to such rhetoric, and hard work toward humane and comprehensive immigration reform, is needed as we arrive at a critical precipice for the United States and human rights.”

Anthony Kroll said he had lived outside the U.S. for 13 years and has witnessed the sense of yearning so many people have for a better life.

“I know how people are feeling,” he said. “They’re yearning for freedom and for a better world. We don’t always realize it because we belong to a superpower. We’ve had a lot to eat and a lot to wear for a long time. Sometimes we need to get out of our own shoes and stand in their shoes. You’ll learn a lot.”

Robert St. Marie, a volunteer tax preparer, said he hears a lot of people comment that the undocumented workers don’t pay taxes and that they’re incorrect.

“I know for a fact that the undocumented who don’t file taxes pay the most,” St. Marie said. “Those who do file taxes, pay a lot more than citizens for exactly the same situation because they don’t get the earned income credit. And under the new law, they’re not going to get the earned income credit and they’re not going to get the child tax credit and that’s absolutely tearing apart our system. They’re going to suffer severely.”

St. Marie said rampant deportation is likely to compound the situation.

“Over 70 percent of the undocumented are farm workers,” he said. “We’re going to wind up starving. And I don’t want to starve.”

Audrey Arner commented that Americans believe that they feed the world, but that it’s not true.

“Not only are we not feeding the world, we are impairing our own ability to feed ourselves and the community of immigrants that most of us are a part of,” she said. “So we are in precarious times related to food security and the ability to get the job done on farms and in food processing in this country. As that hits the fan, there will be a much broader community of people engaged.”

Peterson representative Meg Louwagie was in attendance to collect the letters and signatures from the protesters. She apologized that the congressman couldn’t be there, but assured everyone that he stands “with you in the fight for what is right.”

“The administration’s action in eliminating DACA, the young adults brought to the U.S. by their parents, and separating families at the border is cruel and must be ended immediately,” Louwagie said as she read from Peterson’s statement. “I support the federal court order that requires the administration to reconnect these separated children and families within 30 days, as well as legislation to ensure this practice stops. It’s time to put an end to targeting children and families as part of a political ploy to force action on other immigration priorities.”