1 of 4
Scenes from Anti-ICE protests in Milwaukee
2 of 4
Scenes from Anti-ICE protests in Milwaukee
3 of 4
Scenes from Anti-ICE protests in Milwaukee
4 of 4
Scenes from Anti-ICE protests in Milwaukee
The U.S.-Mexico border lies more than 1,800 miles from Milwaukee. However, for some local families who have had loved ones detained by the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, it feels as though it’s right down the street. “My children are just broken... My kids are so distraught,” said Alysha Ferreyra, former wife of Franco Ferreyra, who was detained by ICE agents earlier in June. “I want someone to help my kids get their family back.”
Ferreyra spoke at a protest rally held on Thursday, June 21, at the local ICE headquarters Downtown—just one of many similar Milwaukee protests designed to bring attention to Donald Trump’s policies regarding detaining families at the border. Reports have shown that nearly 3,000 kids remain in federal custody, even after an executive order was signed in late June—a step taken to lessen the number of families being separated at the border.
“We have seen this picture before...separating children from their parents,” said U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, who spoke at the “Families Belong Together” protest in front of the Milwaukee Federal Building in late June. “We saw it in slavery. We saw it in Japanese internment camps. We just got ourselves the Muslim ban.”
Moore wore a Mylar blanket around her neck while speaking, in solidarity with children who are given similar blankets at ICE centers when they are separated from their families at the border. She said that she visited an ICE center weeks ago and saw firsthand the conditions many children live in at the border. “There is no religion, anywhere, that supports separating babies [from their parents],” she said. “We need to do justice and love mercy.”
Do Justice, Love Mercy
Ferreyra is hoping that the Trump administration listens. Her ex-husband, Franco, is a father of four children. He moved to Wisconsin in 2001 from Argentina and was detained by ICE agents after driving without a license; he was then sent to an ICE office in Chicago because he was an undocumented immigrant. He may apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) assistance if there are changes made to the program at the federal level—something Voces De La Frontera, the organizers of many of the Milwaukee-based protests—are pushing for. “It’s really hard to keep in contact because he’s treated like an animal, and he’s treated like a criminal, but he’s done nothing wrong,” Ferreyra said.
|
|
Local politicians are also speaking up. District 12 Alderman José Pérez introduced a resolution to the Milwaukee Common Council earlier in June to let the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives know that the Common Council disapproves of the actions taking place at the border. “I’m angry because it’s not the way our system should work,” Pérez said in an interview. “Separating families and law-abiding citizens is not the way this should work. We wouldn’t have a dairy industry without the immigrant population in Wisconsin. We want to urge Congress to treat people humanely.”
Local organizers show no sign of slowing down their efforts as a protest in June shut down traffic on I-794, just blocks from where Trump was staying at the time. Alma Regalia, a mother who came to the U.S. from Honduras nearly 30 years ago, said these types of protests give her hope. “People need to come together and support each other—especially when we know that these kinds of things are happening,” she said. “I thought this country wasn’t built that way. I don’t know what’s happened over time with all these other people. In the past, I feel like people used to be a little closer together, supporting each other.”
