Today, in Eloy, Arizona, John Legend and Juanes joined forces to protest the businesses that end up benefitting from inhumane immigrant detention centers as part of Legend’s #FREEAMERICA campaign, which is also looking into “crimmigration,” the intersection between immigration and criminal law.
Legend and Juanes toured the facility, where more than 1,500 are currently being detained, and performed for the detainees on a makeshift stage, according to The Associated Press. “My heart breaks,” said Juanes, who was invited to join the campaign by Legend. “It’s very difficult to understand how someone’s liberty can be taken away unjustly.”
Eloy has been in the news because two people died at the center in the last year.
The artists’ tour puts a spotlight on immigrant detention centers at a time when droves of Central Americans fleeing violence in their native countries are heading to the United States. When many reach the US against all odds, it is likely they will be locked up in detention centers, where they are treated as criminals instead of refugees.
Watch the Periscope of Juanes’ performance below, along with tweets from those present.
https://twitter.com/_MariaS192/status/689900640382750720https://twitter.com/ndlon/status/689903276226052096https://twitter.com/ndlon/status/689907525479624704
Follow the #FreeAmerica hashtag here.