LUBBOCK, Texas– At least 20 people protested outside Congressman Jodey Arrington’s congressional office in Downtown Lubbock Tuesday to call on members of Congress to close down immigrant detention centers.
The conditions were stated in a news release as the product of cruel and intentional strategy by the Trump administration to terrorize immigrant communities, criminalize immigration and dismantle United States asylum laws.
James Kuel organized the event when he saw an event online and nobody signed up for it.
“We are protesting to try and ask Jodey Arrington to vote against the camps where these people are being kept who are undocumented immigrants,” he said.
People held up posters during the protest with one reading “Jodey, have a heart #closethecamps.” Another one read “Close the camps.”
Congressman Arrington issued the following statement:
“It’s outrageous to compare our immigration detention facilities to concentration camps where people were tortured and mass murdered, as some in Congress have done in recent weeks. The border patrol and other officials are doing the best they can with what they’ve been given. That’s why I supported a $4.6 billion emergency relief package last week to add more immigration judges, support our state and federal border security officials, and ensure detainees receive adequate and humane care.
Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat Leadership in the House played politics with this humanitarian aid for months and denied eighteen formal funding requests from President Trump and House Republicans before finally getting something passed. Until we address the root causes of our broken immigration system and get serious about border security, this crisis will only get worse. Open border policies not only betray our citizens and weaken our country, they actually hurt immigrants by encouraging them to make the dangerous trek, allowing women and children to be exploited, and lining the pockets of drug cartels at the expense of poor, desperate people.”