Hundreds protest arrest of undocumented immigrants in US

NEW YORK, Mar 1 (APP):Hundreds of American activists have rallied in San Francisco in the US state of California, to protest against recent arrests of undocumented immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service, according to television reports.
During Wednesday’s rally, scores of protesters chanted “Shut ICE down” and held banners reading “Stop ICE raid”.
The demonstration came after the US immigration agency announced the arrest of more than 150 undocumented immigrants in recent days in California.
Demonstrators argued that the community of immigrants is living in a state of fear following the three-day raids.
They said the anti-immigration policy of US President Donald Trump is aimed at ripping up families across the state.
According to California officials, as many as 800 people were expected to be detained by the federal immigration office.
The arrests came days after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued a rare public warning that immigration raids were likely. ICE Director Thomas Homan on Wednesday called her “no better than a gang lookout.”
“We have come together today to show that the Northern California region stands together in denouncing the mass arrests that happened in the last three days,” Blanca Vazquez, a media spokesperson for the protest, told HuffPost.
Under the policies of the Trump administration, all undocumented people, not just those with criminal histories, have become targets for deportation.
ICE arrests increased by 40 percent during Trump’s first eight months in office, compared to the same period the previous year.
Since his inauguration, Trump has faced numerous protests and rallies condemning his divisive rhetoric and controversial immigration policy, including a travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority nations.
Meanwhile, large numbers of Americans say they think President Donald Trump’s policies have made things worse for African-Americans, Hispanics and Muslims, according to a new poll. And more than half say the president himself is a racist.
The new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 57 percent of Americans think Trump’s policies have been bad for Muslims, and 56 percent think they’ve been bad for Hispanics. Forty-seven percent, including three-quarters of blacks, think they’ve been bad for African-Americans.
Fifty-seven percent of all adults say they think Trump is a racist. The poll finds that 85 percent of Democrats consider Trump racist, but just 21 percent of Republicans agree.
Trump has rejected accusations of racism, telling reporters at one point, “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”