Latino community in Texas protests against Trump migrant deportations

Hundreds of Latinos in Texas protested Sunday against U.S. President Donald Trump's push to deport migrants, urging him to "leave the people alone."

Since the Republican retook office on January 20, his administration has announced plans to ramp up deportations of undocumented migrants, and authorized entry of immigration agents at "sensitive" locations, such as churches, schools and workplaces.

On Sunday, Latino protesters -- many of Mexican, Honduran and Salvadoran descent -- marched to Hermann Park in Houston chanting "we are not leaving" and "long live the migrants".

"I'm here to be a voice for the voiceless, for people that are scared right now," protester Alexandria Pike, 34, told AFP.

An American citizen, Pike said her grandmother came to the United States illegally when she was pregnant with her mother "to give all of our generations a better life."

"I want Donald Trump to stop mass deportations now, leave children alone, stay out of school, stay out of places of worship, and all these spaces, and just leave the people alone," she said.

Alfredo Castillo, a 63-year-old American retiree who was the son of Mexican immigrants, said "we are not criminals like Trump says."

"He is the criminal," he said, referring to Trump's conviction for making hush money payments to an adult star during his first presidential run.

"People come here to work, to make an honest living," Castillo said. "This country was made by immigrants and it will always be so."

Omar Martinez, a 51-year-old who became a US citizen, said he was fearful for his relatives.

"I still have relatives who are not legal and they are people who have been here for many years, hardworking, good people, without crimes, and we are scared for them," he said, calling for Trump to "stop separating families".

Trump has made deporting undocumented people in the United States a top priority. During his campaign, he described immigrants as "poisoning the blood" of the United States.

© Agence France-Presse