Protesters to Biden: ‘Dismantle the Deportation Machine’

Over 100 people rallied at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall next to the Liberty Bell on Dec. 18, International Migrants Day, to pressure the Biden Administration to dismantle the deportation machine before he leaves office. The demonstration was organized by a coalition of groups concerned about immigrant rights.

Among the speakers were representatives of Vietlead, CAIR Philadelphia, AFRICOM (Coalition of African Communities, Philadelphia ), Make the Road Pennsylvania, CASA, Juntos, Philly Muslim Freedom Fund and other activist organizations. Excerpts of letters of imprisoned immigrants were read. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, City Council members Kendra Brooks and Jamie Gauthier and State Representative Chris Rabb made statements.

The incoming Trump administration’s threats to deport millions of immigrants loomed large throughout the rally.

Speakers asked Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker to proclaim her support of the sanctuary city status, instituted during former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration in 2016.

The coalition demands include steps the Biden Administration has refused to take for almost four years: Dedicate asylum officers to adjudicate pending cases in the asylum backlog; lift the executive order that closes the border and cuts asylum rights; end Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts; close immigrant detention centers; release people in detention and cancel pending deportation cases, and so on.

The whole group — carrying large placards of the demands in bold lettering and individualized banners bearing monarch butterflies and calls for the closure of Moshannon, Clinton, Elizabeth and Pike Detention Centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey—chanted as they marched to the Ben Franklin Bridge. The monarch butterfly migration from the United States to Mexico has become the art symbol for the immigration movement.

At the bridge, which connects Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey, the demonstrators blocked the entrance for over 30 minutes during rush hour. Police eventually arrested 13 activists (their bodies chained and locked together) who refused to leave the bridge entrance in protest of President Biden’s anti-immigrant policies. After cutting the chains and locks with bolt cutters and zip-tying protesters’ hands behind their backs, cops placed the 13 activists in police vehicles. All arrestees were eventually released hours later, charged with code violations for “obstruction of a highway.”