It’s a dark chapter in history as an ignorant, blathering circus peanut-hued excuse for a president marches this country towards fascism. If you’re paying attention, you’re probably in pain. The news is a flood of sickening ugliness. The tales of migrant families—even those reunited—are an ache in our collective soul. The SCOTUS nomination has given us all one giant American panic attack. Sometimes it feels like we’re at the end of the movie and the villains have won. Remember when “hope” was an actual slogan coming from the highest government official in the land? Sob. Now a clique of self-serving, hateful moneygrubbers control every branch of our government. It’s easy to feel helpless and without recourse.
That’s why we need to trumpet stories like these with our metaphorical megaphones. Non-violent protest works, my friends—and it works FAST.
Weeks ago, as part of the nationwide rallies in response to migrant families being separated at the border, protesters organized and descended on a jail in Richmond, California, which also holds detained immigrants.
Just weeks after these protests erupted, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department announced they are severing ties with ICE. ICE was given 120 days before the contract is terminated.
Why, you ask?
"Managing protests in Richmond have become expensive and time-consuming for our staff," the sheriff said. State and local funds will fill in the missing revenue and no layoffs are forecast because of the contract's cancellation, Livingston said.
ICE pays Contra Costa County $6 million a year to jail up to 200 people a day believed to be living in the United States illegally, and the jail nets about half of that, the sheriff said. He said without an increase in what ICE pays, the contract will soon be a money loser because of rising staff costs.
Not because county officials’ hearts grew three sizes that day, but because those pain-in-the-ass protesters are making the venture a financial loser. Whatever, we’ll take it.
ICE responded by saying this decision would hurt immigrants, relocating them further from their families and attorneys. Because ICE is all about trying to give immigrants the best possible care and really wants them close to their families, right? Excuse me while my eyes roll into the back of my head.
There have been ongoing protests at this particular detention facility, but I’m guessing these most recent rallies were the straw that broke the camel’s back.
This is the third California county to sever ties with ICE. Monterey County quit them in December. Sacramento County followed suit last month.
Keep up the good work, resistance!