Dozens arrested for protesting Trump immigration policies during Philadelphia July Fourth...

Dozens arrested for protesting Trump immigration policies during Philadelphia July Fourth parade

ByRyan Briggs July 4, 2019

Several dozen protesters were arrested by Philadelphia police after briefly interrupting the city’s “Salute to America” Independence Day Parade. The activists had marched through Center City in opposition to the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Customs and Border Protection.

Several hundred of the activists had rallied earlier in the morning outside of the local ICE bureau, near 8th and Arch streets. The protest action was organized as part of a national “Never Again Week of Action,” which saw Jewish-American organizations orchestrate similar marches across the U.S., in an effort to link modern immigration enforcement tactics to the Holocaust.

“This is the Jewish community basically getting together to say ‘never again.’ It’s something we usually say about the Holocaust, but ‘never again’ is now,” said Sarah Giskin, who helped organize the march. “Philadelphia is supposed to be a sanctuary city. ICE should not be operating here at all.”

She said protesters wanted to see the immediate closure of the local ICE field office and the closure of a controversial immigrant detention center in Berks County. But Giskin added that protesters also organized in favor of broader changes, including immigration reform and the abolition of ICE altogether.

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