This weekend, Jewish activists – members of the Never Again Action group, which aims to prevent another Holocaust from happening – partnered with Movimiento Cosecha to protest an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Two hundred Jewish protesters blocked the entrance and demanded that elected officials close the detention center, and defund ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Instead of detaining immigrants, the activists said we should show compassion. The protest, which took place on Sunday at 6 p.m., ended with 36 arrested, according to Never Again Action’s page.
Many of the participants joined because they felt they had to. Rebecca Oliver, who was arrested, said, “I have to do whatever is in my power to disrupt ICE, to close the camps, to provide permanent protection, and to ensure that Never Again means Never Again.”
For others, like Tae Phoenix, what’s taking place in this country is an attack on another of her communities.
“I’m a Jewish Latina. The military camps where my people are being held today are concentration camps; just like the camps my people were held in 75 years ago were concentration camps,” Tae said. “That’s why I’m here. That’s why we’re here.”