Border detention issue sparks a Modesto protest, and a counter-demonstration
Protesters gathered Wednesday afternoon in downtown Modesto to decry President Donald Trump’s policy on migrant families detained at the Mexico border. A smaller group supported him.
Members of the Modesto Peace/Life Center and Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, said people are being mistreated in federal detention centers.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like for them,” said Tricia Esparza, holding a sign that said “no children in cages” at the Five Points intersection. “It’s not OK to stand by while this is being committed against children.”
About 60 critics gathered on the east side of the busy intersection at the start of the commute home on Independence Day eve. About 20 people stood on the west side in support of the policy.
Trump backer Angela Mineni of Modesto said the detentions started under President Barack Obama and the current president is right in trying to verify that the migrants really are part of families.
“We want to see these people in safe places, and that’s what Trump wants,” she said.
Both sides drew occasional honks and shouts of support from passing cars. One man yelled an anti-immigrant obscenity from the driver’s seat, then parked and got out to argue with a Trump critic. The driver left, and the Modesto Police Department arrived to take a report on the encounter. The event was otherwise peaceful.
Harder said Americans are “enraged” by the treatment of several thousand people who have fled nations to the south.
“I think we’re here because our hearts are breaking watching the situation at the border,” he said. “We see images of kids coming over, being kept in cages.”
The Associated Press reported earlier Wednesday about other Democratic lawmakers describing overcrowded, unsanitary conditions at south Texas detention facilities they visited this week. The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general seemed to confirm the findings.
In a series of tweets, Trump defended Border Patrol agents, saying they “are not hospital workers, doctors or nurses,” and made no concessions about the conditions at detention centers, AP reported.
The administration has long said federal agencies trying to cope with the growing flow of migrants were overwhelmed and based its request for the $4.6 billion border package that Congress approved last week on the need to improve those facilities.
“Many of these illegals aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions,” Trump wrote.
This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 7:11 PM.
