Protest at Henderson Detention Center promotes immigrant rights
A nonprofit group’s demonstration outside the Henderson Detention Center over family separation and detention practices drew counterprotesters Saturday.
The Red Rage Protest for Kids in Cages sit-in was part of a series of protests organized by Haven Craft, an interfaith and intercultural community center in Las Vegas’ Arts District.
The organization was protesting for the rights of asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees, organizers said. The goal of the protest: ending family separation and closing “overcrowded concentration camps where peoples’ rights are being violated,” said Melissa Akiima Eggstaff, director and a co-founder of Haven Craft.
Shortly after the demonstration began at noon, about 20 protesters stood on the sidewalk in front of the detention center.
The Henderson Detention Center has a contract — which began in 2011 — to house detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Saturday, protesters broke into chanting at times, including “We don’t find human rights debatable” and “No Trump. No KKK. No fascist USA.”
About five counterprotesters gathered in the same area, holding an American flag and Trump 2020 flags. Some wore red “Make America Great Again” baseball caps.
Several Henderson police officers stood in the detention center parking lot monitoring the event.
Protesters didn’t have a timeline in mind for how long they would be outside Saturday — just “until our volunteers start risking heat stroke,” Akiima Eggstaff said.
Haven Craft launched its series of Red Rage protests several months ago, and the group aims to have one every couple of months. The last one focused on reproductive rights, and about 100 people attended, Akiima Eggstaff said.
Human rights violations are rampant in the U.S., she said. “There’s a lot to be angry about right now.”
Some protesters wore red clothing. It’s symbolic of how “we all suffer, bleed and die” if human rights violations aren’t addressed, said Akiima Eggstaff, whose face was painted red.
Counterprotester John Eakins — who was wearing a shirt with American flag print — told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “We are here to support America because ICE is here to support America.”
Eakins also said about the detention center: “This is a place where they bring dirtbags and criminals.” Also, “These people have had their day in court.”
He said that he knows a lot of immigrants who’ve fought hard to gain their legal status and he supports them “1,000 percent.”
A different counterprotester was using her phone to livestream the event, which appeared on the “AZ Patriots” Facebook page. The accompanying post on Facebook read: “ICE detention center in Henderson, Nevada where the lefties are crying about kids in cages. PS there are no kids in cages here.”
From October through the end of June, the Border Patrol apprehended more than 688,000 people, over half of them families and unaccompanied children. People from all over the world enter the United States via the Mexican border, but the vast majority come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, three Central American countries.
By June, most children being held at a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, had been transferred to other facilities. The move followed reports of more than 300 children — from toddlers to teenagers — having inadequate food and water and living in unsanitary conditions.
Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
