MIAMI (WSVN) - A rally for immigration rights in downtown Miami on Monday held up traffic for hours and ended with the arrest of multiple protesters.
7News cameras captured demonstrators lying down on Biscayne Boulevard and blocking the entrance to PortMiami while chanting for change during the rally.
The demonstrators connected themselves to one another by putting their arms in black cylinders and chanted, “Stop Title 42” and “We love you, we see you.”
City of Miami Police officers responded to the scene to make sure the demonstration remained peaceful.
The rally started at around 11 a.m. at Miami’s Torch of Friendship and ended hours later after police made the arrests of protesters who were blocking the roadway.
Detectives told 7News they have no problem with demonstrations, but in this case, they were blocking the entrance of the port, disrupting business and that cannot happen.
“We want them to demonstrate, we want them to show their cause but they needed to do it in a peaceful way where they’re not obstructing traffic,” said Miami Police Officer Michael Vega.
The demonstrators demanded a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented individuals, as well as an end to the deportation of Haitians who enter the country illegally.
“What’s happening is not right,” a protester said. “We demand a fair due process. We’re not asking for it.”
“One thing is true: we’re not going to stop until we get what we’re asking and that is citizenship for 8 million people and also for them to stop deporting Haitians,” said another demonstrator.
They want Vice President Kamala Harris to disregard the Senate Parliamentarian’s recommendation and insert a path to citizenship in the president’s Build Back Better plan.
In a speech, Tessa Petit of the Florida Immigrant Coalition said, “You made the promise last year. You came to immigrants and you promised them that you would protect them. Now it’s time, step up, stand up, fight back against this rhetoric that is saying that immigrants do not deserve to be here. It is the time for the Biden administration, it is the time for Kamala Harris to stand up and fight back.”
Earlier, Miami Police said the demonstrators who were arrested could face an obstructing the roadway charge.
By the afternoon, at least three were charged with unlawful assembly to commit breach of peace.
They have since posted their $500 bond.
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