NEW YORK — Wearing white T-shirts with the message “We are All Human Beings,” more than two dozen immigrant children and their parents joined Logic and Ryan Tedder on stage Monday night at the MTV Video Music Awards to protest President Donald Trump’s separation and detention policy.
The children, including some younger ones who appeared intimidated by the crowd, stood in a line as a “human wall,” some swaying and clapping to Logic’s new song, “One Day.” He debuted it Friday with a new music video depicting a teen forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border from his parents and baby sibling.
On stage, their parents came out next from behind, simulating reunions with hugs. The protesters hoisted faux candles in the air as the song concluded.
Immigrant leaders from three advocacy groups, including United We Dream and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, participated. Logic wore a black T-shirt reading “F*ck the Wall.”
Three weeks after a federal court-ordered deadline to reunify families, the Department of Justice revealed last week that the Trump administration is still holding 565 of the children forcibly separated from their parents in federal detention, including 24 under age 5 who were supposed to be reunited more than a month ago, according to a statement from coordinators of the demonstration.