Duke Student Among 31 Arrested Outside Florida ICE Facility

On November 22, as Donald Trump continues his cruel and illegal escalation against communities across the United States, young people marched outside the Krome Detention Facility in Miami-Dade County to demand the federal government shut down the facility and release unlawfully detained community members. Police arrested thirty one of the peaceful protestors, in addition to a journalist who was present to document the action.

Protesters held photos of people who had been killed in ICE detention facilities and signs reading "ICE kidnapped my neighbor”. They spoke of the inhumane treatment of community members by ICE in such facilities.

“ICE is a criminal organization that is terrifying everyday people on behalf of fascist billionaires. They have no right to kidnap our neighbors, and it's time for every single American to stand up to their intimidation tactics,” said Sunrise Movement Organizer Carly Shaffer.

Historically, 'disappearing' people, abducting them without any notice of their whereabouts to loved ones and denying them due process, has been a smoking gun of fascism. No one is above the law in a republic, and yet ICE is given immunity to deny beloved community members their most basic legal rights and kidnap them in broad daylight.

“My dreams are not illegal,” said organizer Artivista Karlin, a student at Duke University and Florida native, “and yet, right here, an hour away from my home, the Trump administration has built a concentration camp for immigrants… for people who are here with dreams, like my family… dreams of building better lives for their kids.”

Karlin denounced the paranoia that ICE aggression has created across the country, even causing children to miss school out of fear of deportation. “ICE [is] disappearing our neighbors… our friends, our families, our communities… simply for being a different skin color, for being born in a different country.” She discussed ICE activity in Durham, NC, where she studies at Duke University. From Florida to the Carolinas, Karlin explained, ICE has a universal effect: fear and disruption.

Karlin was among the 30 individuals detained for exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest. It seems, though, that the sun is rising; people like her will continue the fight to protect their immigrant neighbors and return them to their homes and the lives they have built right here in the United States.