Police arrest 5 in protest outside Otay Mesa Detention Center

In an act of civil disobedience, the protesters blocked the street that leads to the immigration detention facility to block employees from leaving and buses of detainees from arriving.

Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp

Several dozen people gathered outside Otay Mesa Detention Center on Friday afternoon to protest the federal government's immigration enforcement tactics.

A group of protesters blocked the road leading to the facility using their bodies, a gold chain and trash cans. One person chained her body to the barricade with a U-lock. After the protesters kept the road closed for a couple of hours, California Highway Patrol and San Diego Sheriff's deputies arrested at least five of them.

“We shut it off so no buses come in, no buses come out,” said one protester who identified himself as Omar. “We should not be contributing to mass deportations.”

He said his family immigrated from Iraq, and he felt called to get involved because he sees Immigration and Customs Enforcement using tactics that reflect the values of imperialism and White supremacy. 

Omar and friends stop by the detention center often and hear people screaming, he said, and he worries about mistreatment inside the detention center.

He said he covered his face to protest the fact that many ICE officers are now using face masks to hide their identities when they conduct arrests. Omar said he and his friends would be judged differently for doing the same thing.

“We get labeled as terrorists because of the pigmentation of our skin,” he said.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment about the protests. 

CoreCivic, the private prison company that owns and operates Otay Mesa Detention Center, said that the company does not make immigration arrests or make decisions about deportations.

“We know this is a highly charged, emotional issue for many people, but the fact is the services we provide help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone – to help create safer communities by assisting with the current immigration challenges, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people, and meet other critical needs efficiently and innovatively,” said Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic. “These are problems the American public has made clear they want fixed.”

The demonstration at Otay Mesa Detention Center was one of the latest in a string of protests against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations after ICE officers raided local businesses and arrested asylum seekers showing up to immigration court.

The protest began with chants as demonstrators walked up and down the public path next to the detention facility. They cried out words of support through megaphones to the detainees, who responded from the yards attached to their housing units. 

Shortly after, the yells from the detainees stopped.

Jeane Wong, one of the protesters who was later arrested, said it wasn't right for the facility to move the detainees inside so they couldn't hear the protest.

“These are our neighbors. These are our friends. These are our students. These are everybody that we love, and we just want to make sure they're OK,” Wong said. “They moved them so they can't hear positive words. That's torture. We're not doing anything but giving them music and letting them know they're not alone.”

Rosa Grant said she brought her two nieces to the protest because even though the two women in their 20s are generally quiet, she's seen them growing angry over the Trump administration's immigration policies. 

“These old farts must go,” Grant said, referring to the politicians currently in power.

She rested on her walker in the shade while holding a sign that said, “F— ICE,” as the main group marched back and forth next to the detention facility.

Many of the protesters yelled “Shame!” and booed CoreCivic employees who passed by in trucks monitoring the facility's perimeter. As employees got off work, some honked angrily and at least one shot a middle finger up out of an open car window at the crowd on the sidewalk.

Then some of the protesters walked down the hill to where Calzada de la Fuente ends at Alta Road and set up the blockade. A line of more than 20 cars trying to exit formed as more employees left at the end of their shifts.

“You guys might be tired but think about the people in there,” one man said through a megaphone, urging the protesters to keep chanting and stay put.

Some of the demonstrators yelled at the employees, asking them how it felt to be detained. 

Eventually, the employees turned around and used a dirt road to leave. Protesters later blocked this route as well.

Wong said she planned to get arrested. She said she was still worried about the children separated from their parents under the first Trump administration, especially the ones who have not been reunited with family.

“I'm here until they take me away,” she said. “No kids are going to be kidnapped on my watch.”

Terri Leyton said she hoped the roadblock would force ICE to give detainees more due process. 

A protester read poems from "Mariaposa: Poems of Love and Liberation” by Alma Rosa Azul over a megaphone to encourage the people blocking the road. 

“I don't want to come back as a butterfly anymore,” she read at the end of one poem. “Now, I want to come back as a molotov with wings.”

After about two hours, at least 12 California Highway Patrol vehicles pulled up to block Alta Road, and, aided by San Diego Sheriff's deputies, the police issued a dispersal order and then arrested at least five protesters who remained in the street. 

The San Diego Sheriff's Department referred to highway patrol when asked about the arrests. CHP did not respond to a request for comment to confirm the number of arrests and any charges those detained might be facing.