101-year-old veteran Robert Hilliard has gone viral for condemning President Donald Trump and his "fascist government" in remarks at a vigil for the closing of the "Alligator Alcatraz" ICE detention center in Florida late last month.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the immigration detention facility last month, transferring all detainees to other centers after determining that hurricane season made it unsafe to continue operating at the remote Everglades site.
People held there described limited access to attorneys, unsanitary conditions, worms in the food, malfunctioning toilets, flooding contaminated with sewage, swarms of mosquitoes and insects, overcrowded tents lined with bunk beds inside chain-link enclosures, intermittent air conditioning during Florida's intense heat, and delays in receiving showers and prescription medications.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that every detainee had been transferred from the detention center but did not disclose how many people were moved, where they were sent, or whether the closure would be permanent.
As part of the vigil, Hilliard, a 101-year-old World War II veteran, addressed the crowd to condemn the Trump administration as a "fascist government" committing human rights abuses:
"Well, as you just heard, next week I'll be 101 years old. In February 1944, when I was 18 years old, I was inducted into the Army, and they sent me for basic training to Camp Blanding, which is near Jacksonville, Florida."
"And what they taught me to do there was to kill people who had set up detention camps in Germany. Can you imagine how I felt earlier this year when they announced that one of the future detention camps would be at that same Camp Blanding in Florida? What remarkable irony."
"We in this country have seen a remarkable change. And in Washington right now — and forgive me, I’m gonna use the 'f' word — we have a fascist, a fascist government that allows innocent people to be put in detention camps and incarcerated."
"We have been lied to over and over and over again about these camps. Our president said these detention camps were being put up to put in immigrants who had criminal records. We now have about 65–70,000 people incarcerated in these camps."
"29% have criminal records. 71% of the people in these camps, even with our country's and our government's statements about why they set up the camps, don’t belong there! 71% of the people in camps don’t belong there, according to the government, and yet they are put there."
"We’ve got to fight. We’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got to reach people all over this country and tell them, 'Don't look away. See what’s happening.'"
Hilliard's remarks were recorded by PhD student and immigration advocate Thomas Kennedy on X and Instagram.
Many have praised Hilliard for speaking out and echoed his condemnation of the Trump administration.
Hilliard's warning went viral mere days before roughly 400 members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front traveled to the nation's capital to march on July 4.
He knows fascists when he sees them. We should be listening.
