About 30 people braved frigid temperatures on Saturday to protest the proposed ICE detention center in Bradford County. The crowd carried signs and shouted “No ICE” from the intersection of U.S. 301 and Madison Street near a closed CVS in Starke.
The group of protestors assembled at 3 p.m. Saturday, amid gusty winds and temperatures in the 40s. Throughout the course of the protest, motorists drove by honking their horns in support while others shouted profanities at the crowd.
“You hear about it in the news, but when it’s in your town that could have these things, these people or this facility, it's terrifying,” said Micah Nugent, a protest organizer, who has lived all her life in Bradford County.
Nugent said she began to get the word out about the protest through Facebook in hopes of getting as many supporters to come as possible. She said her original post received a lot of attention and that’s when she decided to expand into Gainesville and posted on the Gainesville Word of Mouth page.
“On my Facebook post I'm getting my life threatened,” she said.
She said when she first saw the proposal to use the Douglas Warehouse as an ICE detention center, it felt heartbreaking. Nugent said she believes getting people to come together and protest provides an opportunity to create genuine change. She addressed people who may argue that only 30 people protesting won’t make a difference.
“Thirty people can lead to 60 people down the road,” she said. “I see people who [are] quietly supporting in their car.”
Nugent refers to Starke as a working-class town. She shared how Starke is representative of what it means to be a community and being there for your neighbor. She expressed her concern for people who shared online comments about how they were happy about having ICE.
“They’re happy about families being pulled apart,” she said. “For a town [that says] on the sign, ‘Southern hospitality at its finest,’ you would think they would be more hospitable to their neighbors.”
Julie Morris, who was also protesting, said she loves how friendly everyone in Starke is. “Everybody helps everybody,” she said. After nearly 30 years in Starke, Morris continues to appreciate the small-town atmosphere.
“That is the worst place in the world to have it,” said Morris. “It shouldn’t be such an eyesore right in the middle of what I like my small town to be.”
Morris said she understands that there needs to be a location for people who are in the United States illegally to be placed before they are sent back to their country, but she does not understand why that location needs to be in the middle of town.
“Put it where the public isn’t going to see it every single day,” said Morris.
Morris called out the Bradford County commissioners for not listening to the citizens of Starke. She said they were voted into office by the constituents and now the constituents are saying they do not want this facility, and commissioners are no longer listening.
Carolyn Spooner, chair of the Bradford County Commission, voted against moving forward with the facility. Spooner suggested using a vacant 30-acre property in New River instead. When Morris was asked what she thought of that location, she said she had also thought of that as an alternate option.
“I think that would be a perfect place to put the detention center instead of putting it in the middle of town,” said Morris.
Dianne Williams, a Bradford County resident, was at the protest and expressed her sentiment against the detention center. She thinks having a detention center in Starke will be bad for the community. Williams intends on going to every county commission meeting until a final vote is made.
“If they pass it, if they go ahead with it, then all we can do is continue to protest it,” said Williams. “They can change their minds.”
