More than 300 people marched and rallied in Lafayette Square Park against ICE raids as part of a nationwide effort by Service Employees International Union members on Tuesday.
“This affects all of us,” said Marisa Lopez of Colorado, who flew to Louisiana Sunday and protested outside the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. “We’re here to give people hope.”
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a labor union representing about 2 million service workers in the U.S. and Canada, was joined by more than a dozen local partners.
Louisiana became a key stop on the tour because it is home to the nation’s second-largest for-profit prison system, organizers said. The state detains more than 60,000 people annually — many in privately run immigration jails, according to Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana…