Princeton to Light Up Hinds Plaza in Support of Immigrant Rights

Princeton, NJ –  On Friday July 12, from 7 pm to 9:30 pm, the greater Princeton community will come together for Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps. The event is being held nationwide to spotlight the inhumane treatment of immigrant families by the current administration.

Beginning at 7 pm, community groups will have tables available to share information, petitions and action items. There will be live music and an art installation on view for the event.  Starting at 8 pm local advocates and representatives will speak on the issue of human detention camps in the United States and the impact to our communities.  At 9 pm, around the country and around the world, participants will light candles in a silent vigil for all those held in US detention camps.

The Princeton event will feature prominent activists and local representatives including: Maria Juega, co-founder of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF),  Princeton councilwoman Leticia Fraga, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, and Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University and Chair of the Board of LALDEF, and Veronica Olivares-Weber of the Princeton Human Services Commission.

Maria Juega notes that children and families are being hit hardest.   “Right now, around two-thirds of people being apprehended at the border are family units or unaccompanied minors,” says Juega.  “The numbers of families and children are growing exponentially: from 24,000 in January to 84,000 in May of this year.” She says these newer arrivals are more likely to experience severe trauma given their greater vulnerability, the violence in their countries of origin, the criminalization of the migration system and other factors.

Princeton mayor Liz Lempert emphasizes how these issues are closer to home than many realize. “The inhumane treatment of immigrants in our country and right here in our state is deeply disturbing and outrageous,” said Lempert. “County jails in Essex, Bergen, and Hudson are making millions of dollars each month off of the suffering of immigrants, including asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution back home.” Lempert said residents participating in the rally next Friday are part of a “call for an end to the administration’s cruel deportation policies and an end to our state’s complicity.”

The event will highlight the breadth and reach of these human rights issues and help people get involved in efforts to drive change.

About Lights for Liberty: Lights for Liberty is a loose coalition of grassroots activists, with support from long-standing immigrants’ rights organizations and other organizers.

Read more about Lights4Liberty here: https://www.lightsforliberty.org/ and follow them on Twitter for the latest updates on the worldwide vigils and what organizations to support now, who are working on this crisis on the ground and at the legal level: @Lights4Liberty.