The Children Protesting the Immigration Ban

Donald Trump's executive order last Friday effectively banning immigration and travel from seven majority muslim countries was shocking in its immediate consequences. In its sweeping and vague writing, it kept over 500,000 American residents from returning home and sundered families attempting to reunite. It's an order that deeply disturbs the safety of families and children across the globe.  In the guise of good, Trump has endangered children and separated generations. At protests over the weekend, we saw this concern not only in the myriad people and their signs, but also reflected by the faces behind those signs. Never at a demonstration or march had I seen such a diverse array of families. Children met and played, and held signs they helped make or made themselves. This is a photo essay of some of those children.

[Image Description: Two young girls of east asian descent stand together in winter coats holding a sign that reads 'refugees welcome, muslims welcome' the words are surrounded by hearts.]

[Image Description: The photo focuses on a light skinned young girl holding a sign saying 'stop the hate!' She is wearing a dark coat is leopard print cuffs, large pastel green ear muffs and glasses. She's looking up at a boy just cropped offscreen.]

[Image Description: A blonde boy rides piggyback on a man's back; he's clutching a slightly bent sign with the chant 'no hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here' written on it.]

[Image Description: At either end of the photo a white child sits on the shoulders of an adult, one is wearing a bear hat and floral puffer jacket, the other a hoodie and giving a toothy grin. They hold a sign between them in the air that reads 'Trump is so greedy he is trying to steal the American dream.']

[Image Description: A light skinned girl holds a colourful sign above her head that says 'let my friends come and stay.']

[Image Description: A white girl in a polka dotted shirt rests on a man's shoulder with a sign that looks clearly drawn by her-it reads 'I love' in huge letters across the poster board with smaller drawings and scribbles.]

[Image Description: A young black girl sits on an adult's shoulders, resting her hands on their head, looking at the Capitol building pensively. A sign behind her has a drawing of Donald Trump with Hitler's moustache, and reads 'Trump's America' beneath the picture.]

[Image Description: A sign sits at the top of a stroller behind a child's head. Seen clearly is 'We stand...Refugees.']

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Soph Bonde is President and Publisher at Argot. She is a professional photographer in Washington DC and awkward about it. She has been described as an 'administrative machine.'