Norwich — Carrying signs that read “Save the Children,” “Families Belong Together” and “Close the Camps,” about 50 demonstrators stood in front of the Main Street district office of U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, on Tuesday to protest Congress' recent approval of funding rather than closure for southern border camps holding migrant children in reported squalid conditions.

The protesters represented several progressive organizations, and some said they came just as individuals and families to voice their objections to the treatment of migrant children held in camps reportedly with no soap or toothbrushes, wearing filthy clothes and with beds with only foil-like thermal “space blankets” to sleep on.

The Norwich protest was part of a nationwide effort promoted by www.moveon.org to protest the holding camps at congressional offices.

Tracey Burto of Norwich outlined the group’s demands using a bullhorn. First, she said that the border camps should be closed. Second was to stop funding the camps. “No nothing,” she shouted. “Not one more dollar.” And the children should be released back to their families, she said.

The protesters applauded.

One man walking past across the street shouted obscenities at the protesters and was quickly out-shouted in response as he kept walking.

After hearing brief remarks from protesters, including Jim Dolan, who has been teaching social studies in a high school in Guatemala for three years, and Laura Gray of Old Saybrook, who has visited migrant shelters on the Mexican side of the border, a small group went inside to deliver a two-page letter to Courtney.

“It is unacceptable that there are thousands of children and families suffering right now in immigrant detention,” the letter addressed to all members of Congress begins. “Children are denied soap and toothbrushes, crowded into unsafe conditions, and are going hungry because they are not provided enough food to eat. Separated from their families, they are subject to cruel and inhumane treatment that leads to lasting traumas. And some are dying in custody — or dying with parents as they cross the Rio Grande. These conditions are the product of the Trump administration’s cruel agenda to terrorize immigrant communities, criminalize migration, and dismantle our asylum laws.”

Courtney was not at the office Tuesday.

“I’m glad people are coming to put a spotlight on this issue, and I think it’s really important,” Courtney told The Day on Monday.

While he has some issues with the $4.6 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill for humanitarian assistance and security at the southern border, which Congress passed last week and President Donald Trump signed Monday, Courtney said the clock was ticking and “the coffers are empty.”

Protesters objected to the Senate version of the bill, which removed restrictions and controls the House bill had contained, but also objected to any funding that would keep the centers open.

Courtney was one of 129 House Democrats to vote in favor of the final bill, while 95 House Democrats voted against it. The vote was 176-7 among House Republicans. The Senate vote was 84-8, with six Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. Eight senators didn’t vote, including the seven Democratic senators running for president.

Courtney visited the McAllen Border Patrol Station and Port Isabel ICE Detention Center in Texas last summer.

Courtney said he liked the original House bill better than what he ultimately voted for, saying the original bill had tighter controls to make sure the Trump administration fully accounts for health care spending. He added that the final bill increases funding to get children out of the holding cells.

At Courtney’s office Tuesday, District Director Ayanti Grant met with about 10 protesters at a time — greeting several she knew with hugs. After hearing their concerns and demands, the conversation quickly turned to how citizens could directly help the migrant children.

Grant suggested donating cash to reputable relief agencies that are bringing supplies to the detention camps, including IRIS — Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services — in New Haven. Protester Gray said groups are working at the border running soup kitchens for migrants camped on the Mexican side waiting for their asylum cases to be called.

Protester Deborah Vilcheck of Chester said she is frustrated by the lack of essentials, as basic as food and water, at the detention camps.

“I want these camps closed,” she told Grant, “but today, they need water.”

Protesters told Grant they feared escalation and “normalization” of the harsh treatment of immigrants and migrants. “Hitler didn’t start with death camps in 1938,” said Judy Deglin, whose parents had fled Nazi Germany.

“You have a representative in Congress who would never consider what is happening now to be normal,” Grant responded.

Grant distributed a letter from Courtney dated Tuesday addressed to constituents outlining the issues and sharply criticizing the Trump administration for its “zero tolerance” policies that he wrote have resulted in “dangerously under-resourced bureaucracy at the border.”

“Please know that I will keep our shared deep concern about the treatment of children and families at the border in mind as Congress continues to work to address the Trump Administration’s draconian immigration enforcement policies,” Courtney wrote.

Day Staff Writer Erica Moser contributed to this report.

c.bessette@theday.com