UM campus Rabbi Jason Cook joined more than 50 faith leaders and spectators on Sunday, Aug. 24, at Alligator Alcatraz during a vigil calling for the closure of the immigration detention facility.
The event was a peaceful, interfaith demonstration organized by Jewish leaders from South Florida congregations. Prayer and spiritual insight from leaders of the communities pleaded for humanity for undocumented immigrants and people in the facilities.
Alligator Alcatraz, a 39-square-mile immigration detention facility in the Everglades, was built quickly as part of a nationwide effort by President Donald Trump to facilitate “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history”. The camp provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a location to hold detainees after conducting raids.
The weekly vigil draws in congregants and leaders from all across the religious and political spectrum to protest a facility and, systematically, immigration policies they say violate their faith.
Cook said the gathering was less about politics and more about standing in solidarity with those impacted by injustice.
“It was not a political day. It was a be with humanity day,” he said. “Being able to be a person of faith in a place where faith is needed is something that calls to me.”
The facility is located on the former Dade-Collier airport in the Big Cypress National Preserve. While many critics cite humanitarian concerns, environmentalists are also concerned with its proximity to Native American preserve land and its impact on the Everglades’ biodiversity.
Southern Florida District Court Judge Kathleen Williams ruled last week that Alligator Alcatraz must stop all further construction and must not bring in any more detainees. Williams, a University of Miami School of Law alumna, issued a preliminary injunction on the grounds that the project causes irreparable environmental damage and interferes with tribal land use.
Rabbi Rachel Greengrass of Temple Beth Am, a local synagogue in Pinecrest, has organized multiple vigils at Alligator Alcatraz. She says that her social justice focus is based in humanity.
“Our call, of course, is not only environmental, it was [centered on] seeing the image of God in everyone,” Greengrass said.
The vigil was held at the beginning of the month of Eul on the Jewish calendar, a mark of renewal and reflection for the community. In a muddy roadside clearing with trucks roaring past, the pleading blast of the Shofar horn symbolized conflict and a mournful cry for God’s intervention.
Attendees from local synagogues around the South Florida area made the journey to the Everglades holding handwritten posters reading “Alcatraz is inhumane” and “alligator Auschwitz.”
Greengrass emphasized the long history of Jewish persecution, saying that historically Jews have been cast as the outsiders and “the foreigners within.” In a speech given at the camp, she reflected on the shared history not just of other Jews, but with people in Alligator Alcatraz.
“Once our people were strangers in a strange land. Once our families were locked behind gates and fences,” she said. “We feel its echo in [Alligator Alcatraz]. And so we stand not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with sacred memory and fierce love.”
Greengrass’s activism has not been without cost. She said a handful of congregants have complained about her decision to lead the event, one quitting altogether, reflecting broader divisions immigration has cast even among people of faith.
While the event was organized by the Jewish community, the gathering included leaders of other religions. The minister of a Spanish-speaking congregation told attendees that his congregants were scared to come to the vigil or step foot near Alligator Alcatraz out of fear of being profiled and deported.
While some leaders spoke about the climate of fear, others emphasized the power of their gathering as a way to build bridges and demonstrate solidarity. During divisive times, Rabbi Cook believes in the power of community, humanity and justice as a way to heal the world.
“Prayer can be a way to change the world. I don’t think it happens because God says, ‘Zap,’” Cook said. “I think that it happens because people get together and move their hearts in the right direction.”