State representative Christine Palm (D-36) is organizing a Lights for Liberty: A Nationwide Vigil to End Human Detention Camps in Chester on Friday, July 12 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. The event will be held in North Quarter Park, which is on Main Street near the intersection with Middlesex Turnpike, and will represent an expression of solidarity with other Lights for Liberty gatherings across the country.

“In the face of human rights violations, silence has always been complicity,” said Palm, who serves on the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. “We are holding this vigil as an expression of outrage over the Trump Administration’s division of families and the deplorable conditions being endured by desperate people fleeing violence, poverty, and oppression in their own countries. It is also an opportunity to gather with neighbors as an expression of deep concern and compassion for all those being detained, especially migrant children separated from their parents.”

There are 75 other vigils planned throughout the country for the same date and time by the Lights for Liberty organization, which is a loose coalition of grassroots activists, with support from long-standing immigrants’ rights organizations and other organizers. Their website states, “We are a coalition of people, many of whom are mothers, dedicated to human rights, and the fundamental principle behind democracy that all human beings have a right to life, liberty, and dignity. We are partnering with national, regional, and local communities and organizations who believe that these fundamental rights are not negotiable and are willing to protect them.

Lights for Liberty seeks to create the vigil events across the nation to convey solidarity. They seek to work with grassroots organizations both new and historic and are moved to mobilize with anyone: moms, dads, and people of moral conscience who cannot stand to see families and communities destroyed.”

Although Connecticut does not have any detention camps, Palm said, “It is critical for people of goodwill to express solidarity with those who are suffering.”

She added, “We are at a turning point, where the officially sanctioned treatment of people trying to enter our country actually fits the United Nations’ definition of crimes against humanity.”

Those wishing to be part of the vigil are asked to bring a candle, lighter, or cell phone to use once it gets dark.

For more information on Lights for Liberty, visit www.lightsforliberty.org. To reach Rep. Christine Palm, contact christine.palm@cga.ct.gov.