Thanedar leads town hall, protest, against ICE facility plans in Romulus
U.S. Representative Shri Thanedar led a town hall concerning the proposed ICE detention center in Romulus Sunday afternoon.
That's before the Democratic congressman from Michigan's District 13 led a protest against ICE right outside the facility.
Thanedar says his first line of defense to keep this ICE detention facility from opening is to work with the mayor of Romulus to leverage zoning laws against it.
"That's why we are protesting and we're doing everything possible including lawsuits, including use of the zoning laws, to make sure that we don't have such detention centers that treat people like packages," he said to answer a question about what can be done to stop the proposed ICE detention center from opening.
The town hall took place before Thanedar led a rally, attended by some of those in the meeting room, outside the building to protest the plans.
"I live in this community and we don't need this, we don't need this," Kimberly Killebrew of Romulus said outside.
"We don't need that, so if we can get out here together and stand together to fight for it, then guess what, we're going to continue to fight," Lonetta Silas, another Romulus resident said.
In the meantime, the congressman's message echoed from a loudspeaker, breaking the silence of what is typically a quiet stretch of road about six miles from Detroit Metro Airport.
"We will not tolerate the lawlessness these agents have shown and we don't want them in our community," Thanedar said.
In mid-January, Thanedar introduced the Abolish ICE Act, and he explained why he wants to dismantle the agency during the town hall.
"Because I felt that ICE is beyond reform. It is an agency of so much hate," he said.
A date for operations to begin at the Romulus facility has not been made public. But ICE has said the facility could bring nearly 1,500 new jobs and nearly 150 million dollars to the economy when it does.
