<p>They have seen the news and horror stories about what is happening at our country’s southern border, and they want it to stop.</p><p>More than 30 people gathered Tuesday outside Rep. Trey Hollingsworth’s office in downtown Franklin to protest detention centers that were set up at the border to curb illegal immigration. Some protesters traveled from as far away as Jeffersonville, said Margaret McGovern, former Greenwood mayor who organized the local protest.</p><p>The event was one of 140 protests, dubbed #CloseTheCamps, expected to take place Tuesday across the country, urging Congress members to visit a detention center to witness the conditions firsthand, shut them down and agree to not authorize any more funding for family detention and deportation, according to a letter McGovern delivered to a Hollingsworth staffer during the protest.</p><p>Hollingsworth, who represents the state’s 9th congressional district including Johnson County and much of south-central Indiana, was not at his local office on Tuesday.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Everyone who showed up, waving signs at the intersection of Jefferson and Water streets, and chanting, "Honk for families," had a message for Hollingsworth and other members of Congress.</p><p>"We want to let him know that many of his constituents abhor what is happening at the border," McGovern said.</p><p>She passed out testimonials that were written by children who are detained at the centers. They don’t have basic needs, such as toothbrushes, clean water or beds. Babies are sleeping on cold floors and cement benches. Children are being stripped from their mothers and grandmothers. Teens have no privacy, the testimonials said.</p><p>There is no crisis at the border; it is a fabricated crisis, McGovern said.</p><p>"The people in these camps … they need to know that this is not who America is. They need to know that we don’t approve of treating children like animals," McGovern said.</p><p>"I don’t know whatever happened to bring on your tired and poor. We lost it with this administration, I guess. But this was over the line for me. This is too much to just let it go by."</p><p>Local mothers brought their own children who held tiny signs that read: "Families belong together."</p><p>The temperature reached 90 degrees by the time the protest started at noon, but that didn’t stop Franklin resident Michelle Dahl from coming out with her two young sons, ages 6 and 7.</p><p>"I know that my little boys are the same age as those being detained … My children are no better than those children just because they were born in this country. It’s about human rights — non-partisan human rights," Dahl said.</p><p>She had a message for Hollingsworth as well.</p><p>"I would hope that he would realize he has the power to carry our voices higher, to get things done," Dahl said. "Immigration reform is important, but not at the cost of migrant lives."</p><p>By 12:30, the protesters made their way into Hollingsworth’s office. His staff was cordial and welcoming, but did not answer questions on behalf of the congressman.</p><p>Hannah Smith asked what the congressman’s stance is on immigration, and particularly the detention centers. She was frustrated when a staffer told her she would have to reach out to his staff in Washington D.C. for answers.</p><p>"Right now, there’s a lot of general frustration because a large part of his constituency is not being represented," Smith, 22, said.</p><p>"It is his moral responsibility to do something about these camps at the border."</p><p>Her mom, Amy Smith, said she feels the same way. As a Christian, she can’t believe this is happening in her own backyard, she said.</p><p>"All these people who claim to be pro-life and Christians, I am appalled that they aren’t appalled by this treatment of children. This is not being pro-life. This is being pro-birth. I think they must have a false idea of what Christianity is," Amy Smith said.</p><p>"I am all for better immigration policy, but prisons?" she said, her voice trailing off. "This isn’t Christianity in any form."</p>
