Although the McAllen, Texas, Border Patrol Station is more than 1,500 miles from Milwaukee, poor conditions and treatment of migrant families and their children is hitting close to home.
“I saw children in the fenced in area, sleeping under the mylar blankets. Both times I saw a couple dozen men, packed into a small room with one toilet, begging us to get them toothbrushes,” said Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Representing Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, Moore had the chance to visit the station twice in recent months. ”There are other places to hold people than in these conditions.”
Twenty-four immigrants, including six children, have died in U.S. custody after arriving at border patrol stations since 2017. Many children are being held at these stations without their parents. Add to this a backlog of asylum cases, and current undocumented immigrants fearing deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and many would agree a change needs to occur soon.
These facts are pushing many here in Milwaukee to take action. Milwaukee activists have been working to educate the city and state about their views on ICE, and the poor conditions at these migrant camps. This has led to a recent uptick in protests and rallies, along with a focus on community organizing to help those who could be impacted in the community.
Never Again Action
In early July, Donald Trump announced ICE would be targeting just over 2,000 immigrant families in several cities across the United States. However, after the raids were complete, it was reported that only 35 individuals were taken into custody. Although no recent raids have been reported in the Milwaukee area, the low number of arrests nationwide is due in part to the actions of local activists.
One of these actions is the Never Again Action, a mass mobilization of the Jewish community across America to shut down ICE operations. “We know from our own history what happens when a government targets, dehumanizes and strips an entire group of people of all their civil and human rights,” their website says. Organizers began mobilizing in July and have already directly impacted operations at more than 25 ICE offices.
|
|
On Thursday, Aug. 1, 22 Wisconsin Jewish leaders shut down the Milwaukee ICE Field Office (310 E. Knapp St.) in an act of civil disobedience. Leaders blockaded two separate entrances and exits to the building, effectively halting any ICE operations for the day. In total, around 100 local activists and community leaders held signs and chanted around the office. Members of Voces De La Frontera, along with Gwen Moore and Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde were also at the rally.
“Jewish people have a long history of being labeled as the other, of being persecuted and being marginalized, and what we see taking place now is very similar to what Jewish people have experienced over centuries, but most recently, during the Holocaust,” said Michael Rosen, an organizer of the event. Rosen said there were three goals of the civil disobedience: to shut down ICE, educate the public and mobilize the Jewish community in opposition to what is happening at the border. He said they successfully accomplished all of those goals.
Ari Bloomekatz helped organize the action as well. He said what excited him about it was that it was organized by a large group of Jewish individuals across the state. “This has, in many ways, been a convening of the Jewish community across the state to make this happen,” he said. Bloomekatz said his grandfather, an American Jew, fought in World War II to liberate Jews in concentration camps. “I can’t think of a better way of honoring my grandfather than fighting to make sure that nothing even remotely like that happens again,” he said.
“It’s incredibly encouraging to see so many people speaking up against the atrocities happening at the border,” said Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim in Madison, Wis., another organizer of the action. “It’s important that Jews find a voice because we carry these stories with us from our immigrant past. When any community is targeted, everyone’s freedom is under attack.”
LULAC
In early July, a group of approximately 100 League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) protesters marched to the Milwaukee office of Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in an attempt to prod the senator to take action regarding the current crisis at the border. LULAC held their national convention in Milwaukee in July, bringing many Democratic presidential hopefuls to the city. “We hope the American public will tell Sen. Johnson that it’s time that they find a bipartisan positive solution, instead of just pandering to the right wing with hate mongering and immigrant bashing,” said LULAC National President Domingo Garcia.
LULAC is calling on Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, to find a solution regarding children being held in detention centers at the border. When protesters and members of LULAC made it to his office during the protest, they were greeted by just one member of Johnson’s staff. Staff from the senator’s Washington, D.C., office confirmed that Johnson was with Trump during a fundraising event in Milwaukee. They offered no statement to the Shepherd Express. When asked on Monday, Aug. 5, Andres Rodriguez, LULAC’s national vice president for young adults, said neither Sen. Johnson nor his staff has reached back to them regarding another meeting.
PHOTO CREDIT: Evan Casey
LULAC March 1
Around 100 protesters called on Sen. Ron Johnson to do more regarding the current crisis at the border Friday.
Voces De La Frontera
Voces De La Frontera, a community organizing group, has fought for immigrant and Latino rights in Milwaukee and the state for more than two decades. Activists with the group have been able to provide direct support for those fearing retaliation from ICE, mainly through a 24/7 phone number offering education on what to do if they believe they are being targeted by ICE. Although no recent large-scale ICE raids have been reported in the Milwaukee area, Voces organizers still hear about ICE officers routinely targeting individuals.
However, an uptick of information about ICE raids, fueled in part by social media, is welcome news to Voces’ Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz. “There’s been such a very public, strong opposition to the threats of escalation and persecution of immigrants and refugees. But it does have to grow because they are also so relentless in the administrative policies that they have been implementing,” she said about ICE. She said if Voces does receive information about a legitimate threat, they will quickly send out individuals to talk to those involved, as well as ICE officers themselves. If an individual is taken into custody, they also organize to help pay bond or get that individual in touch with the Mexican consulate if they are a Mexican citizen.
“There are things we can do right now to abolish these institutions and in their place build institutions that are creating a path to legalization that is respecting workers’ rights and that respects the ability of people to move with their family,” said Neumann-Ortiz. “That’s where our movements are going.”
