CONTENT WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS VIOLENCE
A driver at a quasi-privately run immigration detention facility in Rhode Island drove their pickup truck last night into a crowd of ‘Jews Against ICE’ protesters, seriously injuring a 64-year-old man, and others.
Graphic video below.
BREAKING: Here is HD video of an ICE guard driving his truck into us as we sat peacefully blocking the Wyatt Detention Center.
We’re putting our bodies on the line because we see the camps and the roundups. We’ve learned from our ancestors: NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE. pic.twitter.com/KnOu5xoOEb
— ✡️ Never Again Action ✡️ (@NeverAgainActn) August 15, 2019
An official at the migrant detention facility, which profits from working with ICE, has been placed on administrative leave.
The management of the detention center will not confirm that Capt. Thomas Woodworth was driving the truck into human bodies last night, but activists have identified him as the one.
The activists’ response: if CBP and ICE and their contractors are doing this to U.S. citizens on the *outside*, what are they doing to the powerless and stateless detainees inside?
“The Wyatt supports the First Amendment right of citizens to peacefully protest on public property surrounding the facility, and the First Amendment right of journalists to report on the facility,” said the immigration detention center’s press spokesperson today.
From the Providence Journal:
Officials at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility have placed a correctional officer on administrative leave after a pickup truck drove into protesters at the entrance to the facility’s employee parking lot Wednesday night.
The officer is identified as Capt. Thomas Woodworth. Wyatt would not say whether he was the man driving the truck, but in video of the incident, protesters could be heard shouting his name.
“Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility Warden Daniel Martin is also conducting a top to bottom review of the incident, Wyatt correctional officers’ response, and the Wyatt’s protocols regarding protest activities outside of the facility,” the prison said in a news release. “Captain Thomas Woodworth has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the independent investigation being conducted by the Rhode Island State Police, and the Wyatt’s internal investigation.
(…_ A 64-year-old man, identified as Jerry Belair, of Warren, by protest organizers Never Again Action, suffered a broken leg, internal bleeding and a possible back injury as a result of the incident.
Amy Anthony, the Jewish activist group’s spokeswoman, said four others were injured in the chaotic scene. One of them, whom she could not identify, was also injured by the truck. The others — whom she identified as Christian Andrade, 74-year-old Ellen Bar-Zemer, and Evan Leferriere — were treated for injuries related to the pepper-spray that was used to disperse protesters from the quasi-private prison.
Wyatt correctional officer put on leave after truck drives into protesters; 64-year-old Warren man seriously injured [providencejournal.com]
A truck drove into ICE protesters — organized by the Jewish activist group Never Again Action — outside a private prison. Protesters say a guard was at the wheel. https://t.co/MfxhUcNYGh
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) August 15, 2019
As Jews we know the signs: this is not an immigration policy. This is a dehumanization policy.
We stand w/ @CosechaMovement, @amornetwork, @FangCollective, @ProgresoLatinoRI, & @Fuerza_Laboral against ICE and the entire immigration deportation machine.
Never Again para Nadie! pic.twitter.com/6MkMqTHxwS
— ✡️ Never Again Action ✡️ (@NeverAgainActn) August 14, 2019