Peg Oswald of Grand Junction was so concerned about immigrant refugee children being separated from their families at the Mexico border, she and four friends wanted to know what U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner was going to do about it.
They met with one of Gardner's aides at the senator's Grand Junction office last week to encourage him to stop the practice which, according to some news reports, has separated nearly 2,000 children of families attempting to illegally cross in the U.S.
Then Oswald, alongside about 150 others, rallied in protest of the policy Sunday in front of the Wayne Aspinall Federal Building in Grand Junction, the same building that hosts Gardner's office.
"I heard if (the children) cry or anything, they can't be held or comforted," she said about children who are separated from their families and placed in holding centers. "It's sickening."
A few local ministers and pastors offered impassioned speeches on the courthouse steps to a crowd of a mostly mature, white audience, some of whom said they attended local churches.
Tom Acker, a member of the Hispanic Affairs Project of Western Colorado, noted how few Latinos showed up for the rally, commenting it is because they are fearful of being questioned and possibly deported by officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
A number of people waved signs announcing their displeasure over the policy and calling for change.
One woman's sign read, "If you're not outraged, You're not paying attention." Another sign read, "What has happened to America?" and another said, "How is it Christian separating children from parents?!!!"
"Children have inherent worth. Parents have inherent worth and they are not being treated with dignity. And that is not OK," said the Rev. Wendy Jones of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley. "This morning I told my congregation we are not crazy. This is a crazy situation but we are not the ones who are crazy. The emperor has no clothes!"
Paul Carlson, an interim pastor at American Lutheran Church, said he was appalled by government officials using Bible references and religion to justify separating families.
"It is really disgusting to see representatives of this government use Scripture and policy to criminalize and disenfranchise," he said, to which the crowd roared its approval.
"We are traumatizing and re-traumatizing people. That is about as immoral as it can get," Carlson said. "Write your local representative and let them know we are not going to put up with this and it has to stop. And it should stop now."
Cheryl Roberts, a parishioner at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley, said her pastor, Wendy Jones, preached several Sundays about families being separated at the border.
Roberts said she attended Sunday's rally because of all the talk and because something should be done because it's a "cruel" practice and doesn't represent her values.
"What if that was my daughter?" she posed. "What if that was my grandson? America, in my mind, is not that cruel."
