Local organizers will host a public rally Saturday in downtown DeKalb to protest the use of warehouses as detention centers for federal immigration enforcement.

The anti-ICE rally, which organizers called “Communities Not Cages,” will run from noon to 1 p.m. at the corner of First Street and Lincoln Highway, sometimes known as Peace Corner.

Communities Not Cages is a national day of action organized by residents and area activist groups such as +350Kishwaukee and REACT (Responsive Engagement Activating Civic Talent), according to a news release.

Organizers said they plan to peacefully protest “the Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation and detention agenda,” according to the release.

“We allow the government to cage families and children every day for no other reason than the color of their skin,” Devon Wilcox, co-leader of the DeKalb Area Rapid Response Team group, said in the release. “This is un-American. We cannot stand by and allow our families, friends and neighbors to be relegated to camps and do nothing. Please stand with us in holding our government accountable and urge them to empty these camps and begin to heal this scar on our nation’s soul.”

Organizers argue that President Donald Trump’s administration’s use of large warehouses for mass detention “will exponentially increase the likelihood for abuse and death in ICE custody, subjecting people to conditions that are meant for storing products, never people,” the news release states.

So far, immigration officials have spent a total of $1.074 billion for 11 warehouses, The Associated Press reported. After Kristi Noem was fired, new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, earlier this month, began reviewing ongoing plans to transform warehouses across the country into detention facilities for tens of thousands of immigrants.

Those plans have faced fierce public opposition. Days after Mullin was sworn in, the Department of Homeland Security paused the purchase of new warehouses intended to house immigrants.

Just across the border in Merrillville, Indiana, a 275,000-square-foot warehouse was identified as a targeted detention center expansion site but then rejected after the site owner said they weren’t negotiating with the DHS, The AP reported. In Salt Lake City, Utah, the DHS bought a warehouse for $14.4 million without notifying the city’s Democratic leaders or the state’s Republican governor or congressional delegation.

“The administration knows that these warehouse detention centers are wildly unpopular, so they try to keep it quiet,” Cynthia de Seife of REACT said in the release. “That’s why these nationwide demonstrations are so important. We are standing on street corners to make it clear to lawmakers and fellow Americans that we do not approve of these abusive actions.”

DeKalb County residents have protested en masse since Trump took office for his second term, opposing many of his policies on top issues such as the Iran war, immigration, health care, higher education funding, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

The Associated Press contributed.