Around two dozen protestors met atop the steps of Springfield City Hall today to protest a contract the Springfield Police Department has with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The contract has been in place since 2012 and allows ICE to house their detainees in municipal jail beds. 92 ICE detainees were housed by the jail last year, and over the past three years the bed rentals earned $14,000 for jail operations.
Lauren Regan spoke at the protest. She is the executive director with the Civil Liberties Defense Center.
Regan says the contract is an issue of human rights.
“We feel that this community, having an ICEdetention center within a municipal jail, is deliberately indifferent to the rights of those detained in that facility.”
The city council is set to vote on proposed changes to the contract at their meeting tonight, which range from minor adjustments in language to the barring of ICE detainees who’s only accused crime is entering the country illegally.