Florida protest challenges new concentration camp for immigrants

Starke, FL – On July 19, the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA) called for activists across the state to mobilize to Starke, Florida in order to protest the planned construction of a new concentration camp in Camp Blanding. Over 700 gathered across the street from the gates of the base, along the side of State Road 16.

After the construction of a detention center in the Everglades nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans for the construction of a second one within the military base of Camp Blanding. The site has a history of containing Japanese internment camps during WWII, and the announcement drew much criticism from residents of North Florida.

“Not in our state — not in our name,” has been a slogan chanted since the start of the efforts to oppose the planned construction.

The Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance organized the event and drew support from many organizations, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Black Voters Matter, FloridaRising, Gainseville’s Indivisible Chapter, 50501 Veterans, the Malaya Movement, the Jax Queer Coalition, Democratic Socialists of America, and the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance.

Support and co-sponsorship came from Jacksonville faith leaders as well, such as the Westminster Presbyterian Church and the Riverside Baptist Church.

“We need to stand here – to fight for those that don’t have the luxury because their families and their children are being snatched from them in the dead of night,” said Reverend Maddie Hilt of the Riverside Baptist Church, who was born and raised close to Camp Blanding.

As hundreds of protesters braved the intense heat, there was a common call for unity and solidarity among the struggles of immigrants in the community with other struggles against the same oppressors.

Xavier Green of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee called out, “They aren’t protecting their borders – they’re protecting a system that has terrorized Black and brown people.”

Recently, Governor Ron DeSantis has slowed down his plans for a new concentration camp to be constructed, however his reasoning has proved inconsistent. He’s gone from citing prudence on choosing which company to contract based on price, to claiming he wishes to use all the space of the detention center in the Everglades first.

“This is not just about Camp Blanding. It’s about all the detention centers that are popping up in Florida; that are being established in our nation. Where we see a bigot president, Donald Trump, and where we see a bigot governor, Ron DeSantis, try to demonize people for simply existing,” stated JIRA organizer and co-founder Monica Martinez.

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