JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Dozens of protesters gathered in Jacksonville to speak out against Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019s immigration detention plans, including the recent activation of a facility organizers now refer to as \u201cBaker Cruelty Camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rally began at Lift Ev\u2019ry Voice and Sing Park, where chants and signs filled the air as immigrant rights groups and allies launched a mobile protest caravan. <\/p>\n
Organized by the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance and a coalition of groups from across North Florida, the demonstration was aimed at confronting the state\u2019s plan to use the former Baker Correctional Institution as a large-scale immigration detention center.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n For months, protests have taken place across Jacksonville. But one thing hasn\u2019t changed \u2014 the message.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizers said the sheer size of the Baker facility signals how serious the state is about expanding immigration detention. As of September 5, more than 100 people were being held there. The site has a total capacity to detain up to 1,500 immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cBaker\u2019s cruelty camp is designed to hold a lot a lot of people, and we want to stop from more lives being harmed,\u201d said event organizer Vanessa Alvarez.<\/p>\n After the initial rally, participants formed a mobile caravan, decorating their vehicles with protest messages and driving to the site in Sanderson, roughly an hour west of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n \u201cShowing them that hey, we still know that you\u2019re in there. We still care for you, and we want to let you know that there\u2019s people out here willing to fight for you,\u201d said protester Stone Sevieux during the caravan.<\/p>\n Organizers argue the state\u2019s detention policies are not just about politics, but are already harming communities in real time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also really focused on the fact that they are kidnapping our neighbors right off of the streets of Jacksonville, and those are the folks who will inevitably be detained in these,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n In contrast, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has defended the state\u2019s approach, calling facilities like Baker necessary for protecting public resources.<\/p>\n \u201cOur healthcare systems, criminal justice systems, infrastructure, you name it. We\u2019re talking billions of dollars that taxpayers have had to foot the bill to accommodate these illegal immigrants who are breaking the law and shouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d Uthmeier said earlier this month.<\/p>\n But for organizers, the fight is far from over.<\/p>\n \u201cOur demands include the 287G agreements here in Jacksonville that would start the collaboration between JSO and ICE,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cOur demands also include the end to any further developments at Baker cruelty camp, which would then house less inmates.\u201d<\/p>\n According to ICE, the Baker facility is now active and in use. Protesters said they are still working to learn more about the project\u2019s scope and funding \u2014 and vow to keep resisting what they call a system built on cruelty and fear.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Dozens of protesters gathered in Jacksonville to speak out against Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019s immigration detention…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":243392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,15619,5229,127685,43938,129794,129797,129795,11067,22224,3188,723,3153,5410,11561,7310,129793,129796,8423,425,21782,34216,48917,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-243391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-action_news_jack","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-attorney_general","12":"tag-baker","13":"tag-baker_correctional_institution","14":"tag-baker_county","15":"tag-baker_cruelty_camp","16":"tag-camp","17":"tag-cruelty","18":"tag-fl","19":"tag-florida","20":"tag-governor","21":"tag-ice","22":"tag-jack","23":"tag-jacksonville","24":"tag-jacksonville_immigration_rights_alliance","25":"tag-james_fmeyer","26":"tag-jso","27":"tag-local","28":"tag-nicholas_brooks","29":"tag-north_florida","30":"tag-ron_desantis","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-of-america","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","35":"tag-us","36":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}