Floridians Protest Proposed Immigrant Detention Center at Camp Blanding
CLAY COUNTY. Hundreds of Floridians from Gainesville, Jacksonville and around the state protested the proposed immigrant detention center at Camp Blanding Saturday afternoon.
A few weeks ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans for the detention center. However, he recently stated he wants to wait for the Alligator Alcatraz facility to reach maximum capacity before moving forward with the Camp Blanding site.
The protest included groups such as the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, the 50501 movement, Indivisible, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Gainesville Immigrant Inclusion Initiative and more.
Community leaders from activist and faith groups in North Florida delivered speeches to a large crowd of protesters. Katie Chorbak, president of the veterans branch of 50501, said, "I trained on that base," pointing to Camp Blanding. “There’s a lot of secrets on that base that civilians need to know. There are more rapes on Camp Blanding than any other National Guard base in this state… We are blocking care for [military sexual trauma] survivors in this state. We are retraumatizing them and refusing to acknowledge the epidemic of rape in the military… In my service I was raped three times… no one was held accountable.”
Jyoti Parmar, executive director of North Florida Indivisible, urged protesters to take more action. “What if [the Germans] stopped those camps before they were built? What if they had fought harder? What if they had gone out every day and agitated, educated and organized… If you are here to hold up a sign and get a photograph taken, you are not doing enough," she said.
Tara, a member of the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network who just went by her first name said, “We're here today in solidarity with our siblings across the nation who are being stopped and kidnapped under the guise of security. We're here today to tell the State of Florida we do not want hundreds of millions of our tax-paying dollars being spent on internment camps… The same way we refuse to allow our tax dollars to continue funding settler colonialism and genocide in Palestine… Our taxes are being used to shoot bullets and tear gas at starving people awaiting aid in Gaza. ‘Aid,’ which is rotten or intentionally laced with opioids.”
Pastor Becca Putman of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gainesville said, “Many who claim the name of Jesus are not just okay with these camps but actively celebrating them. I stand here today to proclaim there is nothing righteous or just about an immigrant internment camp. Not here, not now, not ever.”
Multiple ambulances were called throughout the demonstration due to several protesters becoming overheated, as temperatures were over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and there was minimal shade available.
Things began to heat up towards the end of the protest, and not just in the temperature. As a member of the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance gave a speech, a supporter of President Donald Trump made his way into the crowd of protesters. The Trump supporter carried a large flag depicting the president, with the caption “Save America” written on the cloth.
Several protesters wearing green vests, who dubbed themselves marshals, instructed the crowd to move in closer to each other and to ignore the Trump supporter.
A supporter of President Donald Trump interrupts a protester's speech (GnvInfo)
Due to the large crowd, the entire incident wasn’t caught on camera, but at one point the confrontation got physical when the Trump supporter shoved a marshal.
The Trump supporter can be seen shoving a protest marshal at the timestamp 1:38 (GnvInfo)
As the Trump supporter and protesters scuffled, another protester started having a medical emergency, prompting an ambulance to arrive on the scene. When paramedics arrived, three Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies stepped out of the ambulance, one of whom was carrying an assault rifle. Deputies stood in front of the medical emergency and did not attempt to interfere with the protest.
A few moments later, the marshals and the Trump supporter walked several yards towards the west side of the protest, where he met up with two other counter-protesters. One of the counter-protesters held a sign that read, "Honk if you [heart] ICE” on one side and “Deport these Democrats” on the other side.
The marshals and counter-protesters then walked back over to the protest area. The counter-protesters walked around the protest and were followed by the marshals, but no further physical confrontations occurred.
After the Trump supporters were done counter protesting, they and the marshals walked roughly a mile towards their vehicle on the east side of the protest.
On their way back to their vehicle, one of the Trump supporters accepted a bottle of water from one of the protesters.
A Trump supporter accepts a bottle of water from a Camp Blanding protester (GnvInfo)
As of this writing, North Florida activist groups haven't announced their next action against Camp Blanding.
