On July 12, Richmonders joined with protesters across the country, showing their opposition to detention camps and family separations at the US-Mexico border with the nationwide Lights For Liberty vigil.
Hundreds of supporters came out to the Lights for Liberty vigil in front of the state Capitol building in downtown Richmond on Friday, July 12th. The vigil brought people together across the US to protest the federal government’s immigration policies and treatment of migrants at the US-Mexico border. The Richmond vigil was one of over 700 planned that night for different locations across the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were rumored to be attending, preventing anyone not wanting to risk arrest from joining in. ACLU legal observers present at the event could not confirm if ICE officers did actually attend.
The vigil included Richmond activists as speakers, and ended with a Facebook LiveStream account of staying in a detention center on the border by Abbie Arevalo Herrera, a woman who has been fighting her deportation for the past year by living within the First Unitarian Church of Richmond.
Here are some scenes from the evening’s events:
Photos by Hadley Chittum
