Demonstrations were planned across Indiana on Saturday, calling for an end to immigration detention at the Miami Correctional Facility.
The site has been housing immigration detainees since October. But the federal government is reportedly four months behind in their payments to the state, and two people have died while detained there.
In Mishawaka, about 30 protesters gathered at Grape and McKinley, carrying signs and interacting with drivers at the stoplight.
Norman Waggy said he’s concerned that the government is breaking its own laws. “I would ask them to remember that people are innocent until proven guilty, and so locking up people in ICE facilities without following warrants and laws is illegal,” Waggy said.
Many of those at Mishawaka’s protest were concerned about immigration policies more broadly.
Shannon Denney said she wants leaders to make a fair path for immigrants. “Where’s the humanity? You know, I don’t want to become a nation of cruelty,” Denney said.
Daniel Kmitta with the Michiana Alliance for Democracy helped organize Mishawaka’s demonstration. He said President Donald Trump promised to deport criminals, but that’s not what ICE is doing.
"They’ve been rounding up innocent people waiting to get their immigration status rectified," Kmitta said. "The courts have been overwhelmed."
Kmitta said he wants a humane immigration policy and blames the president for discouraging members of Congress from passing bipartisan reform. Instead, he said the spike in funding for immigration enforcement has created a “partisan police force.”
"We saw it in its ugliest format in Minneapolis," Kmitta said. "We saw it when they jumped out of helicopters to try to round up people in Chicago, and they were zip tying kids."
Mishawaka’s protest was one of almost 30 planned over the weekend, coordinated by the Indiana Organizing Project.
