Yesterday, Day 126 – Father’s Day – at the Homestead Detention Camp for children. They are seeking refuge and asylum in the “land of the free”, where it is claimed that we have “liberty and justice for all”. It was another memorable day. There were maybe 300-400 people (some think my number is conservative) in the driving rain. There were numerous clergy from many faiths. People of all ages, most bringing there own signs and banners. There was a march and a rally. Busloads of people came from houses of worship. We had good media coverage. Everything was peaceful. Peaceful is our signature. This is not a weakness. It is a strength. Our friends who are perfectly fine with the indeterminate detention / internment / imprisonment of thousands of teenagers at Homestead do not quite understand why we witnesses do what we do. On the face of it, one can say that the population at Homestead has tripled since our vigil began. Also, our government has recently decided that there are no longer funds for recreation, education and legal advice for the children. One can look at this in two ways. Negatively, by getting frustrated and discouraged. Or positively, by fortifying and strengthening our resolve, as we are in a war against issue #1 of the Trump administration. I personally am in this for the long haul. As are many of our allies and witnesses. WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY. We gain more and more witnesses through our Facebook page, marches and rallies, word of mouth, social media, internet, newspaper, and TV. We have people in New Hampshire and Iowa getting commitments from candidates running for President to come down to Homestead. Our greatest daily accomplishment is giving hope, love, and encouragement to our beloved children, to literally thousands of them. I am confident that we will prevail, hopefully sooner rather than later.

After our big event yesterday, later in the afternoon, several uniformed department of homeland security officers came into our camp, nominally to pay us a friendly call. One was the head officer at Homestead and another represented himself as the head officer for the region. I felt like I was in a Western, and a Texas ranger and posse of armed men approached me that just wanted to say, “Hi, how are you?” It was surreal. I will tell you, we witnesses have been around for a while. Outwardly we were calm and collected. We told them in no uncertain terms that it was not right to cuff anyone without cause, without telling what the charge is, and without jurisdiction. Also, I said that one engaging in peaceful protest should not have in the back of their mind that one can get cuffed or arrested. Not in America. Who knows what the result will be. Come on down to Homestead if you can. Pray for the children.