On Monday, activists camped outside of Tampa’s Homeland Security and ICE office wanted to escalate the effectiveness of their nearly two-week occupation of the right of way just yards away from the office’s front doors.
So, as CL reported yesterday morning, six of them U-locked themselves to each other, in pairs, in front of the entrance to the office located at 5524 W Cypress St. Wheatpasted on the ground in front of them were paper hearts to symbolize children separated from their parents and guardians as part of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The action worked.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Police moved in about 1 p.m. to cut the locks and arrest the six protesters — Allen Bray, 26; Austin Willis, 21; Sydney Eastman, 28; Torrie Grogan, 23; Jen Derlis, 35; and Dezeray Lyn, 40.
Tampa police Capt. Carlos Rodriguez, who was monitoring the situation, said that he repeatedly told the protesters that they needed to leave because they were on private property. Now they face charges of trespassing after warning. The protestors’ mini tent city has also been dismantled.
The idea to lock themselves outside of the office happened on Monday morning, according to Eastman, who iss one of the arrested protesters. She added that the move is a reaction to the Trump administration’s failure to meet a second deadline to reunite immigrant children with their parents on Thursday. According to New York Magazine, “though the administration claimed success — and U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw even said they get ‘great credit’ for reuniting 1,442 children 5 and older with their families — on Friday there were 650 separated children still in government custody.”
CL has reached out to one of the arrested protesters and will update the post with any new comments as soon as they become available. See photos from yesterday’s protest here, and watch a video report from the Times below.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 2, 2018.
