MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters gathered across the country Tuesday to encourage lawmakers to "Close the Camps" and rally against allegedly poor conditions at detention facilities along the southern border.
In Minneapolis, organizers protested outside of Sen. Amy Klobuchar's downtown Minneapolis office.
The protesters want lawmakers, like Sen. Klobuchar, to refuse to authorize any more funding for family detention and deportation after the president signed a $4.6 billion bill that will help migrants in border camps.
On Monday, about a dozen lawmakers visited the detention centers in El Paso, Texas. The representatives said they talked to 15 women in a cell at one of the facilities, some of whom said they've been there for more than 50 days.
The women reportedly told lawmakers that they'd been separated from their children and didn't have basic needs, like running water.
Speaking to reporters, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, "What we saw today was unconscionable. No child should ever be separated from their parent... No woman should ever be locked up in a pen."
The protests in Minneapolis started at noon.
Klobuchar’s State Director, Ben Hill, issued a statement Tuesday saying:
“The situation at our southern border is inhumane and intolerable. Just last week, the Senator traveled to the Homestead detention facility, a private prison which houses thousands of children, and called for it to be shut down. She has been a strong advocate for comprehensive immigration reform so that the Administration will stop holding children as political pawns.”
Republican Party of Minnesota Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan also released a statement about the protest:
"Senator Amy Klobuchar and her fellow Democrats in Washington have repeatedly neglected President Donald Trump's pleas to address the crisis at the border instead, opting to gain political points. Last week, Klobuchar showed her true priorities when she missed the Senate's vote on emergency funding on border funding to attend the Democratic Debate for her failing Presidential run. Minnesotans are looking for elected officials who will stop obstructing and work with President Trump and Republicans in Congress to solve our border crisis, and we encourage Senator Klobuchar to join the efforts to do just that."