1/30/20

By Sarah Towle

This #HistoryHero has proven that even just one person can make a positive difference.

Joshua Rubin was outraged when Trump & Co. started ripping children out of the arms of parents in spring 2018, criminalizing asylum seekers on the US/Mex border. Resolved to do more than protest for a day, he jumped into his camper, and drove from Brooklyn, NY, to a desolate corner of West Texas, the site of a detention center for migrant teens.

Tornillo’s remote location was on purpose, he says, designed to keep the kids out of view. Josh kept vigil outside the jail for 3 months, waving to kids bussed in (they rarely came out) and letting all know with hand-painted signs that they were not alone. When the captors covered the chain-link, barbed-wire topped fence, he did it with song. When he did see kids, they were heavily supervised, made to walk single file, a fist bump their only form of permitted physical contact.

A few journalists, lawyers and elected officials got inside, on tightly controlled tours. They shared that educational materials were a joke and mental health services few, despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ warning that the longer a child is imprisoned, the greater the risk of life-long psychological harm.

There were 1k teens at Tornillo when Josh’s vigil began. By Jan 2019, there were 3K, some locked in for the 7-month life of the facility.


Infrastructure from tents to power to water was trucked in. Sewage was trucked out. It had its own fire brigade, for the town of Tornillo had none.


Josh documented it all on Facebook at Witness: Tornillo, spawning a movement. In Nov, others joined him, locals, rabbis and congregants, politicians, celebrities.

At its peak, Tornillo boasted 101 tents, 3,800 beds, and 2K non-FBI vetted employees. At least 3,000 children were held in the tent camp before Joshua Rubin & Co. forced its closure in Jan 2019. That’s when the Witness Movement went to Homestead, FL, forcing the shut down of the Kids’ Jail there in late 2019.

And now, they bear witness in Brownsville. Their aim? To #EndMPP — AKA #RemaininMexico, the most inhumane US government policy since #FamilySeparation.

Support the effort! Go bear witness or help buy food, supplies, and pay for legal fees: https://www.gofundme.com/f/witness-tornillo-homestead.

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1/29/20