Louisville, KY: Report from Day One of Occupation of ICE

Report from Louisville ARA about the kicking off of an anti-ICE occupation.

After just a few short days of local activists planning to occupy the ICE offices downtown Louisville, the entrance and exit to the parking lot where ICE vans bound for the detention center in Boone County, KY were barricaded this morning with around a ton of steel chained, zip-tied, and locked to the gates. Twenty camping tents were set up in the grassy area out in front of the building and several large pop-ups lined the sidewalk to provide cover for food, medical supplies, and shade. The American Flag was removed and replaced with a black flag reading, “Not Everyone Is Free.”

After about an hour, the Department of Homeland Security emerged and began dismantling the blockade and threatening demonstrators with charges of “destruction of federal property” for putting tarps over the sprinklers that never seemed to turn off. They used the janitor staff to put ladders up and cut the large locks off the chains and open the gates for use. The agents pulled our scaffolding, pallets, exercise equipment, ect behind the gate and ripped down our banners that weren’t preventing the flow of traffic.

Flag reads: “Not Everyone is Free”

Two passenger vans exited through the entrance, full of detainees on the way to the detention center, as protestors chanted  “Chinga la Migra!” and held signs and banners for detained immigrants to see. After a 30 minute eviction notice, LMPD tore down the camping tents, along with DHS agents. Several of them were intentionally broken and they were all thrown into a pile on the sidewalk, where the crowd was told to legally protest. A woman and her child entered the ICE office around 8:30 am, but left within just a few minutes after being told that immigration court had been cancelled for the day.

The crowd called for Mayor Fischer, who has declared Louisville a “Compassionate City”, and uses the term “Sanctuary City” for political gain. Fischer has assured his constituents that LMPD does not have a working relationship with ICE. LMPD is not supposed to respond to ICE calls, but they continue to, as well as often reporting detainees and incarcerated folks to ICE and placing a hold on their bail so that they cannot be bailed out before ICE comes to pick them up to remand them to the detention center. LMPD officers dwindled in numbers and by 1pm, the encampment was back up to five pop-ups lining the sidewalk.

Throughout the day, demonstrators were able to set up all their tents along the sidewalk and create an encampment that was able to withstand a thunderstorm. At 7pm, over 50 people attended a rally at Camp Compassion, despite the continuing rain. Fifteen people are holding the camp overnight, with minimal police presence. For the schedule of events tomorrow and for more information, check out Occupy ICE Louisville.

https://www.facebook.com/jordan.broomell/videos/921629388044177/

A minivan leaves the parking lot and crushes children’s’ toys set to remind the public that children are being separated from their families and often lost permanently. Watch the DHS agent throw a temper tantrum and kick the toys.