In the president's hometown of New York City, an estimated 30,000 marchers poured across the Brooklyn Bridge in sweltering 90-degree heat, some carrying their children on their shoulders, chanting, "Shame!" Drivers honked their horns in support.

"It's important for this administration to know that these policies that rip apart families —that treat people as less than human, like they're vermin — are not the way of God, they are not the law of love," said the Rev. Julie Hoplamazian, an Episcopal priest marching in Brooklyn.

The families split up as they tried to enter the US illegally were largely fleeing extreme violence, persecution or economic collapse in their home countries, often in Central America.