AFSC’s Newark staff, scores of human rights advocates and immigrants walked three miles Thursday to protest a proposed immigrant detention center that would be one of the largest in the country.
The participants, many dressed in orange jumpsuits to symbolize the prison uniforms worn by immigrant detainees, marched from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown Newark to Essex County Correctional Facility. The proposed new facility would add 2,700 new beds to an already crowded and inhumane immigration detention system.
“This detention center symbolically represents the huge focus that our government has paid to jailing and deporting immigrants without regard to the impact on our families and communities,” said Amy Gottlieb, AFSC’s director of the Immigrant Rights Program in Newark.
Participants also spoke out in support of release of immigrant detainees to their families and communities, as more humane and less costly. AFSC, Wind of the Spirit and many other organizations co-sponsored the event. Their action drew much media coverage.
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Immigrant-advocates-protest-NJ-detention-center-1017550.php
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