In Our Backyard - Action Alert July 7, 2025

Stop Camp Blanding

Florida's rush to support the federal government's cruel and inhumane mass deportation efforts has reached our backyard with the construction of a detention facility for more than

2,000 at Camp Blanding. Governor DeSantis announced the new facility last week as he served as a tour guide for Trump at "Alligator Alcatraz". State legislators, meanwhile, including Jacksonville Representative Angie Nixon, were barred from inspecting conditions at the $450 million state taxpayer-funded center in South Florida. 

To be clear, both Camp Blanding and the Everglades site, as well as others on the drawing board, are STATE FACILITIES designed to support the MAGA anti-immigration agenda and a tripling of ICE funding in the newly approved budget, making it the largest domestic military force in the country. According to the Brennan Center, this money comes as the administration is thwarting congressional oversight of detention conditions, and subjecting detained undocumented immigrants, nearly three-quarters of whom have no criminal record, to new levels of cruelty. If you are outraged about what is happening in our backyard, speak out!

• Demand that Gov. DeSantis and the FL Division of Emergency Management stop using state taxpayer money to build and operate detention centers for the federal government. Demand state lawmakers be allowed to inspect existing detention facilities. Click here for a message you can cut & paste or adapt with your own language.

• Contact FL Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, and Rep. John Rutherford to demand a full congressional investigation into ICE detention facilities. Call the congressional switchboard (202.224.3121) and ask to be connected to their offices, or click on their names and cut & paste this email.

• Support the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA) in opposing the Camp Blanding detention facility.  The group will hold a press conference on Friday, July 14 at 4:30 p.m. in front of the federal courthouse, 300 N. Hogan Street, and a protest on Saturday, July 19th at 3 p.m. at the entrance to Camp Blanding, 5701 FL-16 in Starke. For more information, contact JIRA here. 

  

50 Days of Shame TODAY! Hold Rutherford,

GOP Lawmakers Accountable

In response to last week's passage of Trump's disastrous and regressive budget bill and months of Congressional cowardice, we're calling out Rep. John Rutherford and other GOP members of Congress for their support of Trump and his MAGA agenda. Join us TODAY (Monday, July 7th) as part of 50 Days of Shame, a nationwide initiative to hold elected officials accountable for their complicity in dismantling our country's democracy. If you can't make this morning's protest at the corner of Philips Highway and Baymeadows Road from 9 - 10 a.m., or join the virtual phonebank and help flood Rutherford's office with calls from noon - 1:30 p.m. Unified-Nassau is also staging a protest today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside Rep. Aaron Bean's office in Fernandina Beach. RSVP and get more info here.

BAM Summer Postcard Party This Thursday!

RSVP HERE

John Lewis National Day of Action July 17th

On Thursday, July 17th, BAM will join with a coalition of organizations and individuals for a community gathering to honor the life and legacy of the late John Lewis, a champion of civil rights, voting rights, and social justice. We want to recognize the work of local advocates and call out efforts to suppress the vote and dismantle the hard-fought progress made in this country over the last 50 years. The event will be held from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the A. Philip Randolph Heritage Park, 1096 A. Philip Randolph Blvd., Jacksonville. RSVP here and join us for this community celebration!

Weekly Saturday Protests at Neptune Beach Library

A reminder that there is a weekly sign-waving at the Neptune Beach library every Saturday from 10 - 11:30 a.m. Bring a sign and join the group! Let beachfolks know the anti-MAGA movement, pro-democracy movement has plenty of supporters at the Beach!