Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wrote Wednesday she was proud of the activists in Detroit who tried to shut down the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel during a demonstration.
“So proud of our young people taking action to send a clear message to the presidential candidates that inhumane immigration policies [and] deportations must end,” the congresswoman wrote on Twitter.
The Detroit-Windsor tunnel connects Detroit with the city of Windsor, Ontario, and is the second-busiest point of crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
Wednesday’s protest was organized by Movimiento Cosecha, a group of activists who demanded Democrat presidential candidates commit to stopping all deportation on their first day in office.
“Michigan immigrants & allies are blocking the international tunnel to Canada, right outside the debate in Detroit. They are demanding that candidates commit to ending all detention and deportation on day 1,” the group wrote on Twitter.
The website for Movimiento Cosecha states they are a “nonviolent movement fighting for permanent protection, dignity, and respect for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.”
The site reads:
Our name, “harvest” in Spanish, honors the long tradition of farmworker organizing and the present-day pain of the thousands of undocumented workers whose labor continues to feed the country. Committed to winning real victories for our community, Cosecha believes in using non-cooperation to leverage the power of immigrant labor and consumption and force a meaningful shift in public opinion.
In December, Breitbart News reported that Tlaib said she believes the president is “racist,” and vowed to “hold him accountable.”
“I have heard critics calling it unbecoming of a former state legislator. Well, I believe it is unbecoming of any American to not stand up to Trump’s hate-filled rhetoric and tactics,” Tlaib wrote in the Detroit Free Press.
However, Breitbart News reported on July 23 that in December 2015 Tlaib tweeted “Deport this asshole!” along with an article regarding then-candidate Trump’s plan to shut down all U.S. borders to Muslims following the San Bernadino terrorist attack.