Gambit Blog 'It's time for action': New Orleans joins nationwide call to abolish ICE and reunite families

Even as the heat index climbed into triple digits, a winding crowd of hundreds snaked through the French Quarter and blocked traffic to Decatur Street to call for the reunion of immigrant families and the dissolve of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).New Orleans joined a nationwide protest June 30 to reform U.S. immigration policy in the wake of reports that revealed thousands of immigrant children were separated from their families and warehoused in detention centers after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.The New Orleans event - co-organized by immigrant workers advocacy group Congress of Day Laborers - was among the city's largest marches and rallies organized by immigrants and undocumented people, leading more than 1,000 people from Armstrong Park to Decatur Street, blocking traffic in front of Jackson Square while issuing calls against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policies and the law enforcement bodies separating families - on the border and in communities throughout the U.S."We should stop saying the system is broken, because it's not. It's operating exactly as it was intended to do," said Congreso organizer Fernando Lopez....