Hundreds rally outside Tacoma, WA immigration detention center on Labor Day
Labor Day protesters rally against immigration policies in Tacoma, WA
Hundreds of people rallied outside the Tacoma Ice facility to protest what they called inhumane conditions at the detention center.
TACOMA, Wash. - Several hundred people rallied outside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma on Labor Day, calling attention to what they describe as inhumane conditions for migrants being held there.
The demonstration was led by the International Migrants Alliance, along with groups including Tangol Migrante, La Resistencia and other grassroots organizations. Organizers said more than 850 people participated after caravanning from a conference in Portland, Oregon.
Big picture view:
Labor Day is historically dedicated to honoring workers’ rights. On Monday, many chose to spend it differently, calling for the end of inhumane detention practices and unjust deportations.
Activists came from across the country to bring light to complaints that detainees face dire conditions inside the detention facility, including food that is raw or infested with maggots and little to no access to medical treatment. Their requests, allegedly met weeks later, are often limited to Ibuprofen or Tylenol.
"The detention centers are at, and over, capacity right now, and so they're having to release folks," Terry Valen, a member of the International Migrant Alliance, said. "They're not giving people due process or full court proceedings that they need either to get out of detention or out of deportation proceedings. But even when there are several, like Kuya Max here was released. He's here with his union and community members who have helped him to get out of detention, but he was unjustly detained, and so many more are facing that unjust detention."
Tanggol Migrante and IMA have been able to free some community members, yet Valen says there are so many more being held in Tacoma and at detention facilities across the country.
Among the speakers was Jules Jarabata with Bayan USA, an alliance advocating for national democracy in the Philippines and supporting Filipino migrants.
"There are so many different problems in the Philippines that are driving our Filipinos abroad," Jarabata said.
Demonstrators say Labor Day wasn't just a day of protests but part of a larger resistance movement. They criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, saying deportations are intensifying and families of mixed status are increasingly fearful.
What they're saying:
"We heard about the National Guard being deployed to cities like Portland, like Seattle, and we are getting ready to fight back," said Jules Jarabata, a member of Bayan USA. "The more that we come together, the more that we fight, the more that we unite, that we will be able to change the situation. We will not have to deal with this again."
Jarabata and Valen say criminalizing migrants ignores the systemic issues forcing people to leave their home countries.
"If we were to talk about who is doing something illegally, then we should also be looking at how Trump is violating the rights of so many different people, Jarabata said. "Is it illegal for a family to fight for food for survival to just try to put food on the table, to seek work so they can help support one another?"
"So many of them who are here and have been detained are not illegal," Valen said. "Even if they are, or if they've had some criminal, those things have been expunged. Their records are clean, and so they're still detaining, deporting and put under those kinds of conditions."
Jarabata says part of their mission is holding foreign leaders accountable, like Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who is expected to attend the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22.
"We pressed him to talk to Trump last July about why is it that there's so many Filippinos that have been unjustly detained," Jarabata said. "Marcos is not someone that has sided with us, but instead has continued to side with the policies of Trump."
Organizers said despite the walls and fences separating them from detainees inside, their message of solidarity is getting through.
"Until they're free we're not going to stop," Valen said.
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