No Racist, No Fear; Refugees Are Welcome, Here. What does Democracy Look like? This is What democracy Looks like. What We Want? Free the Children, Now-These are the slogans the members of more than dozen of City’s women groups were chanting trembling the sky in Bayridge last Tuesday, July 2, 2019; protesting the current administration’s immigration policies and mistreatment of the detained immigrants including thousands of children.
Zainab Iqbal of Brooklyner reports as follows:
People across the nation gathered in their neighborhoods to protest against the border camps on Tuesday. The hashtag #CloseTheCamps was created and in Brooklyn, about 200 neighbors gathered outside Congressman Max Rose’s office urging him to do better.
“What’s outrageous? Kids in cages,” protestors shouted yesterday, July 2, at around 4 p.m. They had three demands for the congressman: Close the camps, defund detention centers, and reunite families.
Rose had voted in support of H.R.3401, which allows for “$4.5 billion in FY2019 emergency supplemental appropriations to federal departments and agencies for humanitarian assistance and security to respond to migrants attempting to enter the United States at the southern border.”
The bill provides appropriations for the following:
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
Rose’s constituents weren’t so happy. Many held signs stating, “Hey, Max. Wanna be a problem solver? Close the camps!” and “Sorry—I can’t hear your family values over your children in detention!”
The weekday protest was hosted by several local groups and organizations, many of whom advocated fiercely for electing Rose during the elections, including the Arab American Association of NY, Above Ground Railroad Staten Island & Brooklyn, Action Corps, Bay Ridge for Social Justice, Dream Action Coalition, El Centro del Inmigrante, Fight Back Bay Ridge, La Colmena, NY Immigration Coalition, NYS Immigration Action Fund, Peace Action Staten Island, South Brooklyn DSA, South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance, Staten Island Immigrants’ Council, Staten Island Women Who March, Move Forward Staten Island, Union of Arab Women, Yalla Brooklyn, and Yemeni American Merchants Association (YAMA).
YAMA’s Advocacy Director Ayyad Algabyali, who led many of the chants, read aloud a statement by YAMA. For that, he turned to face Rose’s office.
Ayyad Algabyali (Photo: Zainab Iqbal/Bklyner)
“We are saddened by the position you have taken on the horrendous camps on our country’s borders. We are witnessing the injustices of what those migrants are facing on our border,” he said. “You have been a champion for our community, Max Rose. Especially for the Yemeni-American community. You have fought against…the Muslim ban and the Trump administration. And we want you to keep fighting for those people on our borders.”
“We want you to keep fighting for those families and bring them together and represent our American values,” he continued.
During the protest, the names of the six migrant children who died in US custody were read aloud in a powerful moment. It was met with a moment of silence and shouts of “shame.”
“We have the duty to fight for our freedom. We have the duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains,” people chanted in the heat throughout the hour and a half rally.
Video Courtesy: Somia Elrowmeim, and Shahana Masum
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