Authored by Julia Conley via Common Dreams
(Zero Hedge) Amid reports of severe abuse and neglect in the immigrant detention centers the Trump administration is running, human rights campaigners are planning hundreds of demonstrations on Tuesday to demand the closing of the prisons and the reunification of all families who have been separated by the government.
MoveOn was joined by the ACLU, the Center for Popular Democracy, and other organizations in planning at least 184 events in cities and towns across the country. Beginning at 12:00pm local time and throughout the afternoon, critics of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies will assemble outside their representatives’ offices and at other public venues for the #CloseTheCamps protests.
The organization provided a map on its website of the events that have been planned so far.
#CloseTheCampsNow
Find a protest here: https://t.co/k3MSJZSoOE pic.twitter.com/Jahtz8V0p6— MoveOn (@MoveOn) June 29, 2019
“It’s going to take all of us to close the camps,” MoveOn wrote.
The demonstrations are taking place a day after lawmakers including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) traveled to El Paso, Texas to visit a detention centers in the area.
The delegation reported that the immigrants they spoke with were living in cramped cells where they slept on floors, had not had access to medications or been able to bathe in weeks, were in a state of emotional turmoil, and were exhibiting health problems including hair loss.
“We’re talking systemic cruelty [with] a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals,” Ocasio-Cortez said of what she witnessed in the camps.
“Horrifically, these conditions aren’t an accident,” wrote MoveOn. “They are the byproduct of an intentional strategy by the Trump administration to terrorize immigrant communities and criminalize immigration—from imprisoning children in inhumane conditions to threatening widespread raids to break up families to covering up reports of immigrants dying in U.S. custody and abuses by ICE and CBP agents.”
MoveOn wrote that the three demands of Tuesday’s protests include cutting off all funding for the arrests and deportations of immigrants as well as closing the camps.
“It’s time to fight back against the racist regime that is causing suffering in our name,” tweeted Act.tv, a progressive activism network supporting the demonstrations. “History will remember those who stood against the atrocities.”
AOC is a complete idiot and clearly has no idea what she is talking about. It should bother people that she can make these claims then offer no follow-ups to the reporters she made the claim too. The toilets in these facilities have sink’s at the top of them, this is for many reasons, mainly plumbing and security. No one was drinking out of the toilets, they were drinking from the sinks at the top back of these toilets. Why people are so upset about illegals living conditions when we have juveniles who are legal citizens of this country living in conditions even worse than these illegals. The damage being done to our youth that is locked up in detention centers is horrific. The unit in Chillicothe Ohio you have a 6×8 cell raised sleeping area made out of concrete, the same setup as these detention centers just smaller and these kids are locked away 24/7. You get 30 minutes of TV time once a week, and one 10 minute shower once a week. Other than that, you are not removed from your cells and you have zero contact with anyone other than the guard. And these are our children, I know first hand, I spent 3 months on 5 different occasions at this place. Where are all the rallies trying to stop them? That’s right, who cares? They are legal citizens, we only care about illegals.