More than 100 people gathered in City Park Friday night from 8 to 9 p.m. to listen to speakers and participate in a candlelight vigil in an effort to bring attention to immigration conditions at the United States-Mexico border.
The event was a facet of a national event sponsored by Lights for Liberty, "a coalition of people ... dedicated to human rights, and the fundamental principle behind democracy that all human beings have a right to life, liberty and dignity," according to the organization's website. The vigil specifically, Lights for Liberty said, was to "protest the inhumane conditions faced by migrants."
"You always wonder when you look back in history and you study history if you would have been the one to silently be complicit when concentration camps were happening," said Jessica Hooten Wilson, event organizer. "I've never been one to want to be silent. I don't like to see people, especially defenseless people, of any stripe, hurting."
A July 2 memorandum from the United States Acting Inspector General, Jennifer L. Costello, to U.S. acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin K. McAleenan, said DHS needed to address overcrowding and "prolonged detention of children and adults" in the Rio Grande Valley area in southern Texas.
Costello reported the Office of the Inspector General issued a management alert in May about overcrowding observed in the El Paso, Texas, area U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding facilities. Costello said according to the CBP transport, escort, detention and search standards, 3,400 of the 8,000 detainees observed during the unannounced inspection were being held longer than the 72 hours permitted under the standards. More than 1,000 detainees were held for more than 10 days, Costello reported.
"CBP is responsible solely for providing short-term detention for aliens arriving in the United States without valid travel documents," Costello wrote. "CBP detains such individuals on a short-term basis to allow for initial processing, and then transfers the individuals to other government agencies. However, even when CBP has completed its initial processing obligations, it cannot transfer detainees out of its facilities until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has space for single adults and some families, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has space for UACs [unaccompanied alien children]. Currently, because both ICE and HHS are operating at or above capacity, CBP has experienced increasing instances of prolonged detention in its facilities."
According to a January report from the Department of Homeland Security, there were 60,782 people "apprehended in between the ports of entry and deemed inadmissible at the ports of entry" in December of the 2019 fiscal year. The total number of people deemed inadmissible for entry at the ports of entry, according to the report, was 10,029. The DHS reported 5,121 children were unaccompanied and "apprehended in between the ports of entry and deemed inadmissible at the ports of entry."
The CPB provides security and facilitates operations at 328 ports of entry throughout the country, according to the organization's website.
Catherine Cruz, who emigrated to the United States in 1999, spoke to attendees and addressed those trying to emigrate to the United States.
"They're risking their lives because their lives are already at stake," Cruz said. "The Lord did not bless Americans with freedom to withhold it from those in need."
According to a May 30 statement from President Donald Trump, "the United States of America has been invaded by hundreds of thousands of people coming through Mexico and entering our country illegally. This sustained influx of illegal aliens has profound consequences on every aspect of our national life -- overwhelming our schools, overcrowding our hospitals, draining our welfare system, and causing untold amounts of crime.
"We welcome people who come to the United States legally, but we cannot allow our laws to be broken and our borders to be violated."
Organizer Wilson encouraged attendees to send donations to the United States, Mexico border and write a letter to their state representative.
"Arkansas is so far from the problem I don't think they're making themselves aware. Just because Arkansas people aren't suffering doesn't mean suffering isn't happening."
General News on 07/17/2019