On a chilly Saturday morning, dozens of protesters listened to speakers and then lined Atlanta Road in Smyrna for one of the “No Kings” rallies held across Georgia and the country.
The official theme of the Oct. 17 events was “No Kings: Vote Early,” and speakers urged Georgians to vote ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. But many speakers and attendees who spoke with Courier Georgia said something else brought them out: the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants held in detention.
‘Scared that ICE is going to pick them up’
Andres Carrillo, a chef and immigration advocate, addressed the crowd as demonstrators beside him held up the names of people who recently died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Carrillo pointed to the case of Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, 45, who died while being transferred from the Irwin County Detention Center to the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
His family says ICE agents who detained him at his home days earlier refused to let him bring all the medication he needed for a medical condition and that he went without it until he died, according to a statement released by Detention Watch Network. The family has called for an independent investigation.
In a statement after his death, ICE said that “while in custody, Arenas-Silva received medical care and was seen by medical professionals.”
“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout their stay,” the statement continued.
“I don’t want to live in a Georgia where my coworkers have to Uber home instead of driving because they’re scared that ICE is going to pick them up,” Carrillo said.
He wasn’t the only one at the rally focused on immigration.
“The entire ICE program just needs to be abolished,” said Forrest, a Cobb County resident who gave only his first name. “I hate the way they’re treating people.”
Pat, a retired teacher who also gave only her first name, said she worries about her neighbors and “people who come here for a better life.”
“They’re being grabbed off the street, locked up, and treated horribly. That needs to go. That just needs to go,” she said.
A growing outcry
Concerns about immigration detention have reached a fever pitch in Georgia in recent weeks.
Since Oct. 6, immigrants held at the Folkston facility in southeast Georgia have been on a hunger strike to protest their conditions and prolonged detention. The strike began after 45 men—many of them asylum-seekers held for years—published a letter alleging inadequate medical care, food that makes people sick, and dirty facilities, WABE reported.
On Sunday, about a dozen protesters began a 24-hour hunger strike outside the Georgia State Capitol in solidarity with the Folkston detainees, and planned to camp overnight.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told FOX 5 Atlanta that claims of poor conditions at Folkston are false and that detainees receive proper meals, water, medical treatment, and access to their families and lawyers.
Elsewhere in South Georgia, a sewage backup flooded parts of the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin earlier this month, leaving some detainees with restricted access to drinking water and showers, advocates told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
‘Force them to do the things they’ve promised’
Carrillo told the crowd that voting matters but that people need to stay engaged after the election for as long as conditions for those in ICE detention persist.
“I’m begging people to vote for Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms,” he said, referring to the Democratic incumbent US senator, who faces Republican Mike Collins, and the Democratic nominee for governor, who faces Republican Rick Jackson.
But he said a vote is only the start, urging supporters to “organize and force them to do the things they’ve promised to do.”
Early voting in Georgia continues through Friday, Oct. 30, including a final Saturday of early voting on Oct. 24.
