Protestors will march the Southern Boulevard bridge to Mar-a-Lago Thursday night to take a stand in defense of immigrant children who are separated from their families.
"Flag Day is a patriotic day. We’re trying to show that to be patriotic we’ve got to be the leader of the world," said Avi Silver, a teenage activist who attends high school in Boca Raton. "We’ve got to accept people and help people out when they’re in their time of need."
The protest will go on from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with several speakers kicking off the march at the northeastern corner of Flagler Drive and Southern Boulevard.
“We’re doing it by Mar-a-Lago because we want to tell the president that he can’t separate families anymore, that he can’t destroy the American dream," Silver said.
Emmaunel G. Morel, who is running to be a Palm Beach County Commissioner, plans to be at the protest. He immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti at age 15.
“The United States is what you make out of it," Morel said. "If you wish to do well, you will do well.”
Morel has family who could be sent back to Haiti depending on the legal fate of DACA, which was enacted to protect children brought to the U.S. by their families illegally. It's currently in legal limbo.
“It is sad because I happen to have family members who are Dreamers, so I have family members who could be deported," he said.
Support for Dreamers and immigrants even comes from surprising places. West Palm Beach Brewery and Wine Vault debuted 'Dreamers Lager' at the beginning of May.
"Three people came up to me and said that they either knew somebody or had a relative who was a Dreamer," said John Pankauski, owner of the brewery.
$600 dollars of proceeds from Dreamers Lager went to the non-profit Americans for Immigrant Justice Reform.
"Dreamers Lager actually sparked a lot of conversation and a lot of discourse on the immigrant issue and the dreamers issue that’s facing our country right now," Pankauski said.
