Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, September 20, dozens of cars embarked on a caravan led by the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA) from Jacksonville to Sanderson in Baker County, Florida. It was a show of public resistance and solidarity with immigrants who are already being detained at a new detention center, disgustingly named by Governor Ron Desantis as “Deportation Depot.” Activists call it the “Baker Cruelty Camp,” or BCC.

The announcement of BCC came as a desperate pivot from the previously planned Camp Blanding renovations, with the new location repurposing a shuttered correctional facility into a concentration camp only 15 minutes away from the Lake City Airport.

BCC was originally supposed to hold up to around 1300 immigrants, but is looking to expand with collaboration between the state of Florida and the Department of Homeland Security, whose ICE spokesperson says is looking to expand the facility by “2000 beds.”

JIRA organized the rally and caravan in response to the Legalization for All weekend of action call that demanded a stop to racial profiling after the Supreme Court’s decision on September 8 to allow ICE to detain people based off their race, what language they speak, and even where they work. The call to action also happened in the chilling wake of the Chicago murder of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez at the hands of ICE, and news that immigrants were already being detained at BCC as of early September.

In the rally before the caravan, speakers called attention to the organization beginning to form from people detained in facilities like BCC. “These camps, these atrocities, they are not distant concepts on our screen, they’re a quick field trip away” said a JIRA member, “and we hear that those in these camps are showing signs of organizing and fighting for their rights and for their lives under the worst conditions. So there ain’t nothing stopping us from showing our numbers!”

The caravan departed quickly after the rally to make the drive to Sanderson. Dozens of cars decked out in slogans like “Justice for Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez” and “No Baker Cruelty Camp” rolled by the concentration camp’s site around 40 minutes later.

Drivers honked their horns and many chanted from their windows. Maria Garcia, a founding member of JIRA, called through a megaphone at the head of the caravan, making the group’s presence loud and clear to immigrants in the camp: “Se ve, se siente, el pueblo esta presente!”

The action was successful in drawing visibility to organizers’ efforts to shut down BCC, as well as hopefully empowering immigrants in the camp to continue their fight. But most importantly, the caravan disrupted business as usual by effectively interfering with traffic on a major interstate outside the concentration camp and occupying the resources of the Baker County Sheriff’s Department. The county sheriffs have been in collaboration with ICE since 2009 through an intergovernmental service agreement, before signing a 287(g) agreement in 2019.

Looking ahead, JIRA hopes to up the fight against Jacksonville’s own 287(g) agreement which allows immigrants in Jacksonville to be detained to places like BCC, and to continue showing public resistance against all concentration camps in Florida, while uplifting detained immigrants struggle for freedom.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #ImmigrantRights #JIRA #Featured

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