Friday night organized protests were held in cities and towns across America, according to reports. The reason for the protests was to voice opposition to the conditions that exist in detention centers housing illegal immigrants. In Washington, D.C. the American Federation of Teachers joined in.

“Classrooms, not cages” was the chant from the teachers and Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA, was thrilled to have their participation. CASA is America’s largest advocacy group for Latino immigrants. Maybe I just don’t remember but did this happen during the Obama administration as he put into place the policies that the Trump administration now enforces?

“Si se puede,” Torres said. “Yes, we can!”

Organizers of “Lights for Liberty” said that D.C. was one of the first cities they planned a vigil in, specifically to “demand action from Congress to end concentration camps and impeach the President,” according to the group’s website.

Members of the Indivisible movement were also in attendance in D.C.

Shyamali Hauth, 53, who served in the Air Force for 10 years, attended Friday’s event with a local chapter of the progressive Indivisible movement.

“The way we’re treating people seeking asylum here is absolutely atrocious,” Hauth said. She held a large, neon orange “A,” helping to form the word “immoral” alongside her peers.

“It’s not why I served in the military. It’s not the kind of America we should have.”

That’s interesting. “It’s not why I served in the military.” I assume she served to protect Americans and America’s sovereignty. In order for that to be accomplished the borders have to be secured. The rule of law must be enforced. None of these issues at the southern border are new. The difference now is the escalation in the sheer numbers of those crossing the border illegally. Also, it used to be mostly males crossing over while now it is families, as well as adults trafficking children. It seems to me that a veteran would be in agreement with the President of the United States – the Commander-in-Chief – that American laws must be enforced to deal with the chaos. America has an asylum process in place. The fact is that the resources at the border have been overwhelmed.

The teachers union members loved Barack Obama, though he was once known as the Deporter-in-Chief. That was before the bad orange man came into office and began to address the situation. In Trump’s America, the border chaos is a manufactured crisis at the hands of Donald Trump. You can’t make this stuff up. We can wait and see if Joe Biden, the vice-president to the former Deporter-in-Chief, survives the Democrat primary. If he does, we will see the hypocrites in the teachers’ unions go all in for him.

This week the two big unions are busy declaring that President Trump is destroying American democracy or something.

Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the country with some 3 million members, said this month in Houston that she believes “our democracy itself is in grave danger of being corrupted.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which is among the country’s largest unions with 1.7 million members, said: “Our democracy is under assault. . . . While our democracy has never been perfect, today its very existence is threatened.”

The two leaders gave scathing appraisals of Trump’s performance, saying that he has assaulted America’s fundamental institutions and that U.S. democracy could be lost if citizens don’t fight back. Though these unions have long offered political support for Democrats, their leaders have never used such stark language to describe the state of the nation.

Let’s face it – the teachers’ unions are in the business of electing Democrats.

The Lights for Liberty events are vigils designed to protest illegal immigrants being detained. It’s that simple. The protesters want open borders and for law enforcement agencies to turn a blind eye instead of doing their jobs.

“Our perspective is that asking for asylum is legal and immigration is a civil matter, and there is no need for someone to be in detention if they are not charged with a crime,” McLaughlin said.

Lights for Liberty’s stated goal is to end “human concentration camps” and the group plans to keep going after the vigil, with a chief objective of supporting the numerous organizations at the local and regional level that are doing hands-on work with recent immigrant arrivals. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum rebuked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for calling the detention centers “concentration camps,” but since then more than 400 Holocaust scholars have signed an open letter supporting the comparison.

“I did human rights law and they definitely meet the United Nations definition of crimes against humanity and genocide,” McLaughlin said. “ … Either intentionally or by negligence these facilities are designed to cause the death and elimination of a group of people.”

The AP photo used with the headline above is one of Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, with federal agents at the port-of-entry in Fabens, Texas in June 2018 outside a facility for illegal immigrant children. She tried to deliver items for the children but was turned away since private donations were not allowed.

Hillary Clinton made an appearance at the Lights for Liberty rally in Chappaqua. You may remember that the AFT actively supported her 2016 campaign.

.@HillaryClinton makes a surprise appearance tonight at @Lights4Liberty Chappaqua Rally. #LightsforLiberty pic.twitter.com/NDhgy4dp6J

— Opal Vadhan (@OpalVadhan) July 13, 2019

I’ll end with this video via tweet from Aurora, Colorado yesterday. This protest just outside of Denver was led by anti-ICE protesters. Their rally included lowering the American flag and replacing it with the flag of Mexico. They also defaced a Blue Lives Matter flag with an Abolish Ice message.

Protestors on @ICEgov property just pulled down the American flag and replaced it with the Mexican flag. The group by the doors is growing. Though most protestors are still on the street. pic.twitter.com/X2waaFMEOW

— Matt Mauro (@mattmauronews) July 13, 2019

Armed guards handled the situation.

Just in – armed guards are now outside the doors of the @ICEgov detention center in Aurora. They’re taking down the Mexican and other flags and replacing them with the American and state flags. pic.twitter.com/8U3tiHq5RW

— Matt Mauro (@mattmauronews) July 13, 2019