Never Again Action gets community support at State House news conference

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PROVIDENCE – In a news conference Tuesday morning, organized by Never Again Action, immigrant activists as well as state and local leaders and leaders of the Jewish community denounced the violent ending to the Aug. 14 rally at the Wyatt Detention Center.

During that event, a guard drove a pickup truck into a line of demonstrators blocking the entrance to a staff parking lot at the Central Falls facility. Other guards released pepper spray on the demonstrators during the ensuing chaos.

Those who attended Tuesday’s news conference heard speeches from some of the demonstrators as well as activists from immigrant communities and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, State Rep. Rebecca Kislak  (D –Dist. 4), Jewish Alliance President and CEO Adam Greenman and others.

Activists made three specific requests.

They called for the release of all ICE detainees in Wyatt; they called for the closure of the prison, a private federal facility in Central Falls;  and they called for a ban on private prisons in Rhode Island.

One of the organizers, former state representative Aaron Regunberg,  called on state leaders to take action.

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

Never Again Action, Wyatt, RI