SALT LAKE CITY — For the past 20 Wednesday evenings, a loose association of concerned Utahns gathered outside a Salt Lake City warehouse to protest what was a planned ICE detention facility there.
But when word began to filter out this Wednesday that the detention center likely wouldn't happen, the mood changed.
T.J. Young helped organize the Warehouse Wednesday events and said it was time to shift gears.
“And now it is an hour-long celebration. To thank the Mayor of Salt Lake City, the mayor of Salt Lake County, all of the activists, all of the people who care," said Young.
Folks with the group Salt Lake Indivisible also took part in the detention center protests.
Sarah Buck said she was thrilled when she heard the news Wednesday.
“To me, this is a humanitarian issue. We don’t put people in warehouses," said Buck.
Buck said we may never know whether it was the protests that finally scuttled the detention center.
But Buck is encouraging people to keep speaking out.
“It’s kind of a reminder that while we have leaders, we are the leaders. We are the ones who elect those people, we are the ones who take that power away from them, we are the ones who tell them what to do with that power," said Buck. "And a good leader listens.”
T.J. Young said she and her allies will consider this a win for now…but added, their fight isn’t over.
“I’m ecstatic; there’s obviously a lot of work to do with the ICE flights that are happening out of Salt Lake International Airport, with how ICE is treating people every day today in our neighborhoods, our friends, family, and neighbors. But this is a win we want to take time to celebrate.”
