Hundreds of people shut down traffic at the corner of Fairmount and University avenues in the heart of San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood Wednesday night in what was billed as an emergency community rally denouncing inhumane federal arrests in recent days.
Several community leaders asked for support surrounded by politicians including Mayor Todd Gloria, Council member Sean Elo-Rivera and County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre.
In promoting the rally, Elo-Rivera had said on Instagram that there had been at least four arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past two weeks involving parents and students on streets bordering local educational institutions, including the arrests of three parents after dropping their children off at school.
Johny Oxeda, pastor of the First Haitian Baptist Church Ebenezer in City Heights, told the crowd that “the student trying to get to school has value, the child wondering if their parents will come back tonight has value. These are not statistics. They are our neighbors.”
We will share more video on Thursday. Check back on the Group Chat and our Instagram.