Nineteen advocates for immigrants were arrested Thursday after blocking the entrance to the Suffolk County House of Correction in a dramatic call for a halt to deportations.
Advocates have held vigils at the Boston jail for years, but on Thursday, men and women knelt in front of the jail’s main entrance, locked arms, and refused to budge despite officers’ orders to move.
“We’re saying enough of deportations,” shouted Gladys Vega, executive director of the Chelsea Collaborative, a nonprofit, as she knelt on the ground before her arrest. “We’re here demanding justice and a stop to the deportations and the separation of families.”
More than 150 other protesters from Vermont, Connecticut, and across Massachusetts marched nearby, carrying signs and chanting, “Shut down ICE,” and “Shame on Suffolk County,” which puts immigrants held for civil immigration violations in the same complex as criminals.
The protest is part of a national campaign to pressure President Obama to use his executive authority to curb deportations. The event was held during Holy Week as a backdrop for the advocates’ call for a compassionate response to the nearly 12 million immigrants here illegally, including about 160,000 in Massachusetts.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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