More than 50 protesters gathered in Richland, Washington, on Feb. 27 to demand that President Biden close the Immigration and Customs Enforcement concentration camps, release the detained children and abolish ICE.
The “No Kids in Cages” rally was hosted by two local organizations, Luchadores por Cambio and Community & Labor Against Fascism of Eastern Oregon and Washington. Members of CLAF include Luchadores por Cambio, Pendleton Community Action Coalition, Heal the Land Collective, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, as well as individual community members.
This rally comes as a response to ICE’s continued deportations under the Biden administration, despite Biden’s promise to halt deportations for his first 100 days in office. In fact, not only have deportations continued, as of Feb. 16, more than 26,000 people have been deported from the United States.
Facilities used to cage children that were closed under Trump’s administration are being reopened under Biden’s administration. (NY Post)
“In 2019, approximately 500,000 immigrants were being held in detention centers, 69,550 of them children. Since 2017, 40 new centers have opened. Under Biden’s presidency, things have continued to get worse, not better,” said a post-event status on CLAF’s Facebook page.
On top of all of their other abuses, in 2020 ICE threatened to use COVID-19 as a biological weapon against asylum seekers in Louisiana, (The Intercept) regularly exposed people detained in California to highly toxic cleaning chemicals, and performed forced hysterectomies in Georgia.
With this track record, Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations is not enough. The organizers of the event stated: “Luchadores por Cambio – Tri-Cities, CLAF, and their affiliates demand #NOKIDSINCAGES. We demand that detention centers on the border be shut down. Stop all raids, deportations, detentions, and immigration-related separations. #ABOLISHICE”
