POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Protesters who gathered in front of a Pompano Beach detention center where some immigrants are being held want people to know that this is a privately owned facility.
7News cameras captured dozens of demonstrators chanting in unison and holding signs outside of the Broward Transitional Center at 3900 Powerline Road, just north of Sample Road, at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
“This is what the people look like,” protesters chanted.
Participants said they wanted to take advantage of the momentum generated by the international outcry over the separation of migrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to call attention to the immigration situation as a whole.
“This is a moment to stand up. This is a moment to rise up,” said demonstrator Ricardo Campos. “This cannot be happening in our backyard.”
More specifically, protesters said, the Broward Transitional Center is a for-profit holding facility, which, they argued, dehumanizes the immigrants as they make their way through the legal system. This process, they contended, should be done in a way where no one is making money off of it.
“The practice of creating a profit incentive for imprisoning people and keeping them in prison is immoral and wrong and everything we should strive against as a society,” said Tomas Kennedy with the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “I think the answer is to not imprison people for profit.”
As guards from the detention center looked on, protesters spilled out onto Powerline Road and blocked traffic. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies responded and temporarily shut down the roadway.
Despite the traffic disruption, officials said this was a peaceful protest.
The protest lasted about an hour. No arrests were made.
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