There were drums and musical performances on the Carrboro town commons on Friday evening as a large crowd gathered for a vigil protesting the treatment of migrants in the United States and along the Mexico-U.S. border.

Lights for Liberty vigil in Carrboro. Photo via Sam Bermas – Dawes.

This vigil was one of hundreds of similar events on July 12 across the United States and in several other countries following increased attention to the conditions found at migrant detention centers, which several members of Congress have described as “concentration camps.”

Amy White, an event organizer and a Carrboro resident, said the Lights for Liberty vigils are as much a call action as a demonstration against policy

“It’s not simply a protest, it’s a mobilization and it is about education and connecting people,” White said.

Several community leaders spoke at the vigil, including the Chapel Hill – Carrboro NAACP president Anna Richards, members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and El Centro Hispano’s CEO and President Pilar Rocha-Goldberg.

“It is our moral obligation to speak out against these repressive and horrifying policies against our community,” Rocha-Goldberg said. “Any attack on the immigrant community is an attack on the prosperity and vitality of the country.”

After her speech, Rocha-Goldberg encouraged people to reach out to El Centro Hispano to learn more or volunteer. She stressed that though this was a nationwide issue, state and county politics were an important place to focus attention.

“And really act and acting locally too,” she said.

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