SAN DIEGO — Protests were held Tuesday, including in San Diego, as part of a nationwide protest demanding the closure of immigrant detention centers housing thousands of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Organizers called for an end to the detention centers that "subject children and families to horrific conditions," they said in a statement. Advocacy groups MoveOn, United We Dream, American Friends Service Committee and Families Belong Together lead the #CloseTheCamps protests across the country.
Organizers held the demonstrations Tuesday to take advantage of the Fourth of July holiday when members of Congress are back in their home districts.
Protesters gathered outside congressional district offices to ask Congress to close the camps, refuse to authorize more funding for family detention and deportation and visit the detention camps to witness living conditions.
San Diego protests were held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center and at Rep. Duncan D. Hunter's in El Cajon
"These conditions are the product of a cruel and intentional strategy by the Trump administration to terrorize immigrant communities, criminalize immigration, and dismantle our asylum laws," the groups said in a statement. "'We must come together to permanently end family detention and separation, ensure all families are reunited, and close the camps."
The protests come one day after a congressional delegation visited some of the facilities along the border and reported migrants being held in inhumane conditions, including some being forced to drink water from a toilet bowl, a charge that U.S. Border Patrol Chief of Operations Brian Hastings says is untrue.