At least 40 people gathered outside the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center downtown Wednesday evening to protest Tulsa County’s contract agreement to hold immigration detainees.
Groups including Tulsa Latinos Unidos and Indivisible Tulsa County have been staging regular protests outside a building they claim is a temporarily office location for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement in east Tulsa.
A central focus of the protest was Tulsa County’s partnership with ICE to hold immigration detainees at the jail. The agreement, known as 287(g), has been in place for several years thanks to renewals.
“We want them to know that we have our eyes on them as much as they have their eyes on our neighbors that they’re snatching,” said Carrie, a protester with Tulsa Fights Fascism, who did not provide her last name.
“We’re demanding that they end these contracts,” she said.
The 287(g) agreement has been the subject of scrutiny in recent months. In March, a man claimed he had been illegally detained at the jail, suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado. A federal judge ultimately dismissed the suit.
President Donald Trump has expanded funding for ICE and many immigrants with no criminal convictions have been taken into federal custody.
“It’s not a constructive decision,” said protester Carlos Reyes. “[It] puts a level of fear into the hearts of all families, especially the children that haver to wonder if their mom or dad are going to come home, or what they’re going to do if their mom or their dad gets taken.”
The Trump administration has recently deployed National Guard troops to cities like Chicago under the guise of protecting immigration enforcement officers.
