Protesters gathered in Newark, New Jersey for a rally and 3-mile march up to the detention center organized by the Resist the Deportation Machine Network on Oct. 12 to demand the closure of the ICE concentration camp in Essex county. The action was co-sponsored by over 20 labor, immigrant, faith, and socialist groups such as Cosecha, Jobs and Equal Rights for All, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America and the New African Black Panther Party. This powerful event was part of a national call to action made by the national network Coalition to Close the Concentration Camps.

Actions similar to the one in Newark took place across the country in over 20 cities with the same demand to immediately close all the ICE detention centers and to free the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers who are escaping poverty and violence — all consequences of U.S. imperialism. The protests, rallies, and marches that took place across the country were planned to coincide with the weekend of Indigenous People’s Day and to reaffirm once more that no human being is illegal, especially in stolen lands.

Over 100 community members and activists attended the rally and participated in the march from Newark Penn Station through the Ironbound business district and then the Newark ICE detention Center. Loud chants of “no more blood money!”, referring to the millions of dollars Essex county receives from federal contracts for housing ICE detainees could be heard along with drums. A caravan of cars that stopped traffic attracted the attention and support of the community who showed their support for the demands of the action.

The march ended with a speak out and a message of support to all the ICE detainees, victims of not only a racist federal administration but a complicit state and local Democratic Party establishment the continues to profit off of the suffering of migrant families.