Community demands accountability from Ciro Rodriguez

Protest Action Campaign: No Border Wall, No Family Detention

A group of approximately fifty people, many of whom were youth and children, and nearby community members, showed up to protest Rep. Ciro Rodriguez’ support of the Border Wall and the SAVE Act. It all started about 1pm and the crowd caught the heavy traffic of military drive and I-35 with shouts of “down with the border wall!” and “no children in prison” and brightly colored banners. The group consisted of many Southwest Workers Union members and a caravan of people from Austin and the Big Bend area (Grassroots Leadership, P.O.D.E.R. and No Wall-Big Bend). The aim was to voice to the public not stand by and let their representative support further expansion of the border wall and family detention through co-sponsorship of SAVE Act and to denounce this bill as containing inhumane strategies to address the complex issue of migration to the U.S. Poster and banner messages included “no more children in prison,” “asylum not imprisonment,” “the SAVE Act does not save money or lives,” “no more deaths in the border,” “chale con el muro,” and “stop the war on migrants.”

The community members came out in force to stand together and show the representative that people would not stand by and watch him support such horrendous and harmful policies. The SAVE Act is a repression-only bill that calls only for more border militarization (like the kind that caused the death of young Ezequiel Hernandez) and more border wall (fencing) with no positive resolutions such as paths toward legalization. The bill further supports family detention centers, where children are housed in jail-like conditions, and raids that separate families and cause terror in Latino communities.

Drawing strength from each other, the group marched in front of the office, continuing to chant “no border wall!” and “Ciro Rodriguez por cuanto te vendiste!” as a group people demanded that we receive answers and a change of heart on the part of the representative. When people opened the office doors to seek answers, they were met with silence and with orders to close the doors. The group did not dismay or give up; they kept chanting and again convened on Military Drive to get support from the community.

Finally, people marched one more time to the representative’s office and closed the protest by sharing why they had come out and would continue to fight the attack on migrants and border walls. Some of the stories shared talked about split families, hard working migrants, about how border communities have lived with open borders for centuries, and questioning the war on terror as an excuse to hide the wars the U.S. has waged on other countries and poor investment in our economy and communities. At the end of the sharing a small group marched representing the coalition behind the action to the office doors a second time. This time around Ciro's senior staff came and spoke with us in the lobby, listened to us and debated some of the points the coalition members made. They said Ciro was in Washington, D.C., and that we needed to request a meeting with him. The coalition responded that they would do so and that they did not loose hope the representative would have a change of mind and heart.

See video here