An
Abolish ICE in McHenry County Protest
will be held between 2 and 4 pm on Saturday, July 25 on Woodstock Square. Several speakers
will be featured at a rally to demand the abolition of the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and for McHenry County to end
its contract to use the Jail as an immigration detention facility.
An optional car caravan around
the downtown area will be for those who prefer to participate with greater
safety.
The
event is being organized by McHenry Direct Action, Activists for Racial Equity (Crystal Lake
and surrounding areas), and Standing
Up Against Racism-Woodstock. Press spokesperson Allison Carroll said,
“We are organizing to demand that the McHenry County Board immediately end
their contract with ICE. We can no longer profit off of human misery.”
She
added that the public is encouraged to contact County Board Chairman Jack Franks at 815 334-4224 to ask him to add canceling the contract to the agenda of the next County Board meeting.
The
Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist
Congregation Social Justice Team is also endorsing the event and Team Chair Patrick Murfin will be one
of the speakers.
The
top floor of the Jail is rented for immigrant detention and is staffed by County Correctional officers. The agreement, which is a lucrative
money maker for the Sheriff’s Office
which operates the Jail, has long been controversial. Several rallies, marches, and car caravans
have protested at the Jail in recent years.
Patrick Murfin hosted the Light for Libery rally last summer at the McHenry County Jail, just one of many protests against the immigrant detention center there. |
ICE
is notorious for its brutal and aggressive boarder enforcement, including family separation policies that have led to lengthy detention of children in inhumane
conditions. The agency also stages raids on employers and in immigrant heavy neighborhoods that tear
families apart. More recently ICE
has been in the news because the Department
of Homeland Security is deploying
them as unidentified police in Portland where they have escalated protest confrontations and have snatched
suspected protestors off of the streets in unmarked vans. The Trump administration has announced similar planned deployments
in Chicago, New York, and other cities
with “Democratic Mayors.”
The movement to Abolish ICE is growing all over the county with actions like this one recentyl in New York City. |
Participants in the Saturday
rally are urged to bring signs, wear masks, and observe
social distancing.
For
more information visit the Facebook Event .
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