Protesters at ICE office in Camarillo to join thousands nationwide

UPDATE:Hundreds march in Camarillo as part of Lights for Liberty protest

As undocumented immigrants brace for massive raids this weekend, vigils were planned Friday night across the country, including Ventura County, to call attention to what organizers call  “human concentration camps.” 

Under the banner “Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps,” vigils were planned in hundreds of cities.

In Ventura County, a vigil is planned from 7-10 p.m. outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 770 Paseo Camarillo in Camarillo.

Organizers plan to have speakers, including some politicians and immigrant rights advocates, as well as music, including mariachis. There will be a mile walk with demonstrators, according to organizers.

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More than 500 people had RSVP’d As of Friday afternoon, according to Leanna Brand, leader of Indivisible Simi Valley, one of the sponsors.

In addition to the Camarillo protest, dozens of local activists are expected to travel by bus to protest at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto near Victorville. They’ll also go by by carpool to protest at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, according to Ventura County organizers.

“Ventura County is home to a large number of residents with undocumented status – people and families who are a vital part of our communities and our economy, especially our agricultural economy,” said local organizer Martita Martinez-Bravo, of Camarillo, in a news release. “They are living in fear, and they’ve been demonized under our current administration with policies that are grounded in racism rather than a real desire to fix our broken immigration system.”

Elsewhere, people in big cities and small towns will participate, and there is at least one event planned in every state in the U.S. as well was five continents. There are more than 700 events planned, including in El Paso, Texas; San Diego; Homestead, Florida; Washington, D.C.; New York; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Ashland, Oregon; Chattanooga, Tennessee; St. George, Utah; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Juneau, Alaska.

The vigils come amid reports of standing-room-only cells, infants going without diapers and outbreaks of shingles and other illnesses in detention facilities. This week, the U.S. received a strong call for improvement from the United Nations’ human rights chief Michelle Bachelet: “This should never happen anywhere.”

President Donald Trump said facilities were “beautifully run“ last week after a government report was released documenting conditions. At least five children have died in Border Control custody, or after being released, since December, according to The Associated Press.

In Oakland, high school administrator Lyndsey Schlax is organizing an educational event for kids and parents.

“Rather than being a silent vigil to send a message to the world, we are trying to engage kids and young people and families and teach them how to have conversations about what is going on in the world,” Schlax said.

Schlax, 38, said she wants kids to feel like they have concrete, actionable, achievable ways to make the situation better. She said they’ll provide kids with plans and worksheets for setting up their own lemonade stands to benefit organizations like Immigrant Families Together. There will also be a letter writing session, which was inspired by Schlax’s 7-year-old son, Emmett. Kids will write letters to their peers in detention camps, fold their letters into paper airplanes, and fly them over a fence set up at the event. Organizers will then gather all the letters, and give them to a member of Congress to distribute during a visit to the detention centers.

There are events and vigils planned in populous metro areas in red and blue states, but also in many small towns. 

In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, organizers have planned a “Cacerolazo” protest, which is a Latin American tradition of banging pots and pans to raise awareness of an issue, said Jessie Crockett, an organizer for the event.

In Siloam Springs, Arkansas, the Rev. Kaleb Graves, 22, said he will use Scripture to call “white evangelicals” to action in the fight against unfair treatment in immigrant detention camps.

A recent Pew Research study found that more than two thirds of white evangelical protestants say the U.S. does not have a responsibility to accept refugees.

Graves disagrees: “Christianity, or any other religion, cannot simply be words and prayers without action.”

There was some pushback about religious involvement at the event, Graves said — from both sides.

The Camarillo Lights for Liberty protest, and the organized travel to Adelanto and Otay Mesa, are sponsored by the nonprofit organization Camarillo Cares. Co-sponsors include: Buen Vencino, CAUSE, MICOP, Ventura County LULAC, LULAC Council 3026, TheLAB, Diversity Collective, Get Loud Movement, Conejo Valley Pride, SURJ Ventura County, ADL Santa Barbara Tri-Counties, Veterans For Peace Ventura County, Ventura County Women’s Forum Collaborative, Social Justice Fund For Ventura County, Suburban Women’s Advocacy Network, Indivisible: Conejo, Indivisible Ventura, Indivisible Ventura County, Indivisible Ojai Valley, Indivisible CA-25 Simi Valley, Indivisible Santa Barbara, UNA - Westlake High School, Democratic Moms of Camarillo, Ventura County Democratic Party, Ventura County Young Democrats, Democratic Club of Ventura, Democratic Club of Conejo Valley, Democratic Club of Camarillo, Democratic Socialists of America - Ventura County, Our Revolution Ventura County, Our Revolution Gold Coast, Our Revolution Conejo Valley, Progressive Democrats of America - Ventura County, Greater Oxnard Organization of Democrats and the Santa Clara Valley Democratic Club.

From reports by The Star staff and USA TODAY