Vigil to protest child border deaths
♦ A candlelight vigil set for Friday in Rome is calling for Justice for Immigrants.
A candlelight vigil Friday night outside the Joint Law Enforcement Center aims to honor the migrant children who have died in U.S. custody and protest conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
“We want to show that even in a small town like Rome we care about what’s going on at our border,” said Sergio Blanco, a founder of the local Latino group Romanos Unidos.
The organization is co-hosting the event with Turn Your Back On Hate — a nonprofit formed in 2016 to counter a Michigan neonazi group’s “white rights” rally in Rome.
The vigil is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. on the front lawn of the downtown law enforcement center, 5 Government Plaza. Blanco said there will be several speakers along with poster boards representing each child, with information about their lives and deaths.
“Everybody’s welcome to show up,” he said. “Bring candles. It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
About 100 people have indicated interest on the Justice for Immigrants Facebook page, which urges the community to “stand together against the incarceration of asylum seekers and the separation of families” and to remember the children who have died.
Blanco said the event has been widely shared, and he was disheartened by the social media war of words that focused on illegal immigration. Some commenters said they did not believe children have died. Others justified the deaths by saying they were sick before they were detained.
“But the negative commenters have helped us in a way, because there are also people speaking out against them,” Blanco said. “Now there are others who are coming for sure.”
The U.S. Border Patrol does not make public a running total, but a review of the agency’s statements shows at least nine migrants have died in its custody since the fiscal year began in October, including three children.
Three more youths died after being transferred from Border Patrol to custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Also, more than 900 children — including babies and toddlers — were separated from their parents at the border even after a judge ordered the practice be sharply curtailed, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday in a legal filing.
The ACLU said the Trump Administration is separating families over dubious allegations and minor transgressions including traffic offenses. It asked a judge to rule on whether the 911 separations from June 28, 2018, to June 29 of this year were justified.