Cages Set Up In NYC To Protest Treatment Of Immigrant Kids

NEW YORK — More than two dozen chain-link cages popped up around New York City on Wednesday in a display protesting the government's treatment of immigrant children.

The cages blared recordings of what sounded like crying kids and contained child-sized mannequins wrapped in foil blankets, alarming some passersby. From the fencing hung signs emblazoned with the hashtag "#NoKidsInCages" — an apparent effort to draw attention to the more than 3,000 children reportedly separated from their parents at the southern U.S. border.

The Manhattan-based advertising firm Badger and Winters set up the cages in partnership with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, a Texas-based immigrant-rights group also known as RAICES. Some 25 displays were erected at landmarks such as Union Square and outside the offices of CNN, Fox News and other media outlets, said Matthew Earle, an associate creative director at the ad agency.

"With the 24/7 news cycle it is so easy to forget, but we can't," Earle told Patch in an Instagram message.

"The installation was meant to get people to stop and remember. To feel that outrage all over again," he added.

The displays reportedly attracted the attention of police — images from Midtown and Brooklyn showed cops covering up or removing the cages. Police took some into their possession but it's uncertain how many, an NYPD spokesman said.

Several cops were using sticks to poke the mannequin in a cage outside the Broadway-Lafayette subway station when Jennifer Lee happened upon the scene at about 9:15 a.m., she said. Lee said she initially thought it might be an actual dead body.

Bystanders speculated about whether it was a real kid until the cops pulled the mannequin's wig off, to the crowd's relief, said Lee, a New York University Ph.D. student who lives in Williamsburg.

Lee said she thought the display was a good way to raise awareness about the issue.

"The fact that this child wasn't 'real' doesn't take away from the fact that the 'real' thing is actually happening right now in detention camps," she said in a Twitter message.