Thousands of people are expected to rally on Boston Common Saturday in an effort to end family separations at the United States border.
The "Together & Free: Rally Against Family Separation" kicks off at 11 a.m. at City Hall Plaza.
The rally is part of a National Day of Action to stand against families being torn apart by the government.
Some organizers spent Friday making signs for a vigil Friday night to condemn human rights violations.
Patricia Montes, who came to the United States from Honduras, said immigration injustice is nothing new.
"This problem, this crisis we are facing right now, is not new," she said. "Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are the most dangerous places on earth after Syria."
As director of Centro Presente, Montes' organization wants asylum seekers to not be criminalized in the same ways as undocumented immigrants.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
"We're talking about people that are living on less than a dollar a day. We're talking about people that are receiving extortion from the gangs," Montes said. "We're talking about people that are coming from Honduras because our own government is killing them."
Organizers say the conditions in other counties that people are often forced to return to are not desirable.
"Here in Massachusetts, we need to stop targeting immigrants, we need to stop detentions, we need to stop deportations and we need to fight against the Muslim bam because that also separates families," said Lily Huang, co-director of Massachusetts Jobs With Justice.
Among the messages at Saturday's rally will be "No Muslim Bans" and "Keeping Families Together."
Huang also said the rally will center around how organizers want Massachusetts officials to handle immigration reform.
"No working with immigration, no police asking people for their papers and due process for immigrants," Huang said. "Our first obstacle is the house and then we will need to make sure that [Charlie] Baker hears our voice, that Gov. Baker sees the will of the people and that we won’t stand for this in Massachusetts."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Joe Kennedy are among those expected to attend Saturday's rally.
