WASHINGTON - From coast to coast, in the rain or under the burning sun, tens of thousands of Americans marched and rallied across the country to protest the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy resulting in over 2,000 children separated from their families who crossed the border illegally.

It's very hot in downtown Washingtong D.C. on Saturday, but that hasn't stopped thousands of protesters pouring into Lafayette Square facing the northern side of the White House.

They chanted "We care," "keep families together" and other slogans slamming US President Donald Trump's tough immigration policy. Trump is spending the weekend at his golf club in the state of New Jersey.

Organizers said about 630 Families Belong Together events had been planned across the whole country with Washington D.C. as the main protest venue, calling the rallies a forum for people to stand up to the president's controversial immigration policies.

"(The) family separation crisis is not over. We have a situation where the Trump administration seems to be aiming to detain families," said Karthik Ganapathy, a MoveOn.org spokesman.

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it will now hold families together for longer than 20 days.

The White House has been criticized home and broad over children being separated from their parents by US authorities at the border. Trump has urged to deport those who enter the country illegally immediately with "no judges or court cases" days after he signed an executive order on June 20 that ended the policy.

According to government figures, more than 2,300 minors were separated from their families after illegally crossing the US southern border with Mexico from May 5 through June 9.