A protest for immigrants in the United States took place in Douglas on Monday afternoon in the median between Longhorn Steakhouse and Arby’s. The goal of the protest, organized by Lawton Hurst and Hailey Beasley, is to raise awareness regarding the mistreatment of immigrants across the country, stated Hurst.
“We believe immigrants are being mistreated by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and they’re being mistreated in general. And they have been for the past few years,” said Hurst.
Hurst says he is interested in the plight of native and immigrant rights. By highlighting what immigrants are facing, he believes he can help bring forth meaningful change. “There are innocent people like Luis Alberto Castillo who are being sent to Guantanamo Bay with no criminal history who came here in a legal way. They are still getting sent to Guantanamo Bay. ICE is separating families and just mistreating them. I believe they are in violation of international human rights and the rights of everybody in the U.S.,” said Hurst.
Regarding local incidents, Beasley stated that there has been a history of hatred in Coffee County toward immigrants. “It’s microaggressions. It’s not about big aggressions towards people. One recent thing I can think of is that poor man who was hit by that man down near Walmart. All in the comments of that post it was talking about how ICE needs to come get the guy who did it because he’s Hispanic, while that has absolutely nothing to do with anything,” said Beasley.
Hurst hopes that today’s protest spread a positive message and helped people realize exactly what is going on in Coffee County. “We want people to realize that things are going wrong with how they’re treating people,” stated Hurst.
Beasley added that she recognizes that their protest may not make an immediate impact, she does believe that eventually, it could lead to positive outcomes. “You can’t stay silent and make people uncomfortable. It can spread awareness and make people uncomfortable with the idea that [immigrants] are absolutely being discriminated against,” she said.
The protest lasted from noon until 2 p.m.