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Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was interrupted by a migrant rights activist Thursday, who accused her of being funded by private prisons complicit in the exploitation and deportation of undocumented migrants.
Juan Carlos Ramos, a member of the migrant justice group United We Dream Action, disrupted a speech held by Clinton at the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala, holding up a sign saying “Hillary for immigrants in prisons.”
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This is @juanin11million -the @UNITEDWEDREAM protester who interrupted Clinton- being escorted out by secret service pic.twitter.com/9IJ9zftwxS
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz)
October 8, 2015
Ramos then proceeded to chant “Hillary we’re watching. My deportation will be your funding,” as the Democratic presidential candidate spoke over him, Buzzfeed reported.
After being escorted out the gala, Ramos said in a brief video clip shared on social media that “as an immigrant youth, I just want to send her a reminder that we don’t trust her because of the fact that she is receiving money from private prison corporations, which are in charge of detaining and eventually deporting our people.”
.@HillaryClinton do you stand with immigrant families or with private prison corporations?! #DropPrisonMoney pic.twitter.com/6pvVHMWAXY
— UnitedWeDream.org (@UNITEDWEDREAM)
October 9, 2015
The protest action comes after the Intercept revealed in July that lobbyists for two major prison companies are the top fundraisers for Clinton’s presidential campaign. One of them, the Geo Group, operates immigrant detention centers for profit.
RELATED: Interrupting Power: The Struggle for Trans and Migrant Rights
The United We Dream Action has started an online petition demanding Clinton to “drop the prison money.”
SHAME on you @HillaryClinton stop pretending you care about us #DropPrisonMoney https://t.co/oB77GmgWvj
— Julieta Garibay (@dreamelder)
October 8, 2015
“To take money from these corporations is to take money that has been made off the locking up of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and our black and brown brothers and sisters,” the petition reads.
“So while she makes pro-immigrant promises on the campaign trail, we can only imagine the promises being made between Hillary and her prison bundlers behind closed doors!,” it added.
The action follows a series of interruption protests, including that of Black Lives Matter against Bernie Sanders over racial injustice, and that of Jennicet Gutierrez who disrupted President Obama to end migrant detention, particularly for transgender migrants.
.@HillaryClinton, if you truly stand with immigrants, #DropPrisonMoney!! http://t.co/abiQzmhjCA pic.twitter.com/ZZMc6sE5VT
— UnitedWeDream.org (@UNITEDWEDREAM)
October 8, 2015
