NWDC Resistance News
Week 4 of Hunger Strike September 2018
Join us 6/26 to support Maru's Court Hearing and to put ICE on Trial!
Español abajo
At the end of December, immigrant activist Maru Mora Villalpando received a letter from ICE calling for her deportation as retaliation for her work against detentions and deportations. Her last court was postponed for Tuesday June 26th. Maru will go before an immigration judge for the second hearing in her deportation case. Typically, people have three hearings before they are issued an order of removal or are detained.
Maru is a fierce and tireless truth-speaker who has put her life on the line in the fight to end detention and deportation. She is clearly being targeted for her powerful activism, and she intends to continue fighting.
We are asking you to be there with Maru outside the immigration court building before and during the hearing. Please bring your signs ("Defend the Defender", "ICE Hands Off Maru” "Chinga la Migra" "Abolish ICE") and your friends.
Come early at 12:30 to hear from Maru before she goes inside. Starting at 1:00, a tribunal against ICE will take place outside the building while we wait for Maru to emerge and update us on what happens in court. "As ICE takes me to court, I'm taking them to the People's tribunal in our community"
Please share and RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/242338639681878/
A fines de diciembre, la activista e inmigrante Maru Mora Villalpando recibió una carta de ICE empezando un proceso de deportación en su contra como represalia por su trabajo contra las detenciones y deportaciones. Su última corte fue pospuesta para el martes 26 de junio. Maru se presentará ante un juez de inmigración para la segunda audiencia en su caso de deportación. Por lo general, las personas tienen tres audiencias antes de que se les expida una orden de deportación.
Maru es una guerrera e incansable oradora de la verdad que ha arriesgado su vida en la lucha para terminar con la detención y la deportación. Claramente está siendo atacada por su poderoso activismo, y tiene la intención de seguir luchando.
Le pedimos que esté allí con Maru afuera del edificio de la corte de inmigración antes y durante la audiencia. Por favor traiga sus letreros ("Defendemos a la Defensora", "ICE No te metas con Maru" "Chinga la Migra" "Abolir a ICE") y a sus amigxs.
Venga temprano a las 12:30pm para escuchar a Maru antes de que ella entre a corte. A partir de la 1:00pm, un tribunal contra el ICE se llevará a cabo afuera del edificio mientras esperamos que Maru salga y nos actualice sobre lo que sucede en la corte. "Cuando ICE me lleva a corte, también los llevaré a ellos al tribunal del pueblo de nuestra comunidad"
-NWDC Resistance
P.S.
Did you follow our recent actions with the Mijente #ChingaLaMigra tour? We blocked the roads outside the ICE building downtown Seattle bringing attention to theepicenter of deportations in Washington State.
If you haven't already, sign the petition to demand Martin Selig Real Estate stop renting office space to Trump's deportation forces!
#ChingaLaMigra Kicks Off Tour in Seattle!
June 5th // Activists Lock Down Outside Downtown Seattle ICE Offices
For more related press, visit our Press page.
Watch the #ChingaLaMigra kick off episode of Seattle here!
Activists with Northwest Detention Center Resistance and Mijente locked down outside of 1000 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington, calling attention to the building’s role as Washington State’s deportation epicenter. The building, owned by billionaire developer Martin Selig, houses regional offices for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Chief Counsel, regional offices for Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Justice-controlled Seattle Immigration Court. Sign the petition to demand Martin Selig Real Estate stop renting office space to Trump's deportation forces!
The lockdown is part of the launch of the “Chinga La Migra” organizing tour to tell the story of what the deportation crisis under President Trump looks like in real time, and amplify the efforts and stories of resistance.
“Chinga la Migra is a battle cry. We think it's time to stop waiting for Trump to tweet and start exposing the real trends inside of his Enforcement-first Administration.”- Marisa Franco, Executive Director of Mijente
Immigrant activists Maru Mora Villalpando of Northwest Detention Center Resistance herself faces deportation in the Immigration Court housed at 1000 2nd Avenue due to her anti-ICE activism. ICE received Mora Villalpando’s information directly from the Washington Department of Licensing. She stated, “This building serves as the epicenter for the deportation pipeline in Washington State. Seattle presents itself as a sanctuary city, while several floors of this downtown building house the offices of the very people tearing our communities apart. Trump's cops have no place in our city, and we want them gone. From 1000 2nd Avenue in Seattle to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, we say, ICE out of Washington State.” Protesters are demanding that Martin Selig Real Estate stop renting office space to Trump’s deportation forces.
The June 5th shutdown action follows the previous night’s sundown noise and light demonstration at the now infamous Northwest Detention Center that drew attention to the unrelenting struggle against detention in Washington state under the leadership of those detained. With over a dozen hunger strikes in the past three years and increasing retaliation by ICE and GEO Group (who jointly run the facility) against people detained, the resistance has nevertheless continued. Washington State is only the first stop in the national Chinga la Migra tour, which heads from here to Chicago, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Mora-Villalpando concluded, “More than ever, it’s important for us to stand against an agency that has become Trump’s police force. Until this detention center shuts down, until deportations end, and until ICE is abolished, our work will continue.”
#ChingaLaMigra
Meet Some of the Folks Who Locked Down & Why
"I'm choosing to risk arrest today because my savta came to this country to escape the holocaust in Poland, leaving everything behind to do what she needed to do for her family. I'm out here today because her lineage lives in me, and I know that migration is beautiful. I honor my family's story of genocide and resilience and struggle here - by standing against ICE, and on the side of freedom, dignity, and home for all people. I will not forget how I got here, and that means putting my body on the line. Enough deportation, enough ripping families apart, enough of our silence." - EvaRose
"I'm here to protest a police force with the most funding and no oversight known as ICE. ICE is Trump's personal police force carrying to a racism-first agenda. I'm saying no more." - Noel
"I’m standing with NWDC Resistance and other immigrants rights groups in WA and nationally to respond to the call to ‘Chinga la Migra’. The city of Seattle and the state of Washington have facilitated ICE in terrorizing and persecuting my community members with impunity. We must stand together in compassion to support and love all members of our community, especially undocumented immigrants and refugees targeted by the state. As a nation we must reckon with our years-long complicity in allowing lawless, white supremacist federal agencies to harass and terrorize the immigrant and refugee community." - Max
"Today, I am locking down because as a Seattle resident who is opposed to Trump’s agenda, I know that our city and state can’t claim to be a place of sanctuary until we kick out ICE altogether. I want our leaders and politicians to take a bold stand in support of human dignity — and against the terrorism that ICE enacts on migrant communities." - Kelsen
"I am risking arrest as a Jew. My family is alive today because of immigration and therefore I cannot in good conscious be docile while a secretive police force targets and rounds up our neighbors. This is an immoral system and industry that is fueled by fear and profits from the destruction of families and lives. Let's be courageous and abolish ICE." - Ross
"I'm participating today because it's past time to abolish ICE, an out-of-control deportation force that upholds racist laws, terrorizes families and keeps nobody safe. I believe in a world where every person has the right to migrate as well as the freedom to stay and build a dignified life in their community. ICE lawyers and investigators, immigration courts, and Border Patrol have no place in this world and no place in our community." - Helena
Donate to the Northwest Detention Center Resistance by clicking here!
Justice for Mele
Sign our petition to stop Mele’s deportation! Undocumented loved one and father of three young children Melesio Morales Mata was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this week after his lawyer presented a stay of removal at his monthly check-in with ICE. Activists Across Walls! Join Us for a Week of Hunger Strikes
Join us for a week of hunger strike solidarity by observing a one day hunger strike anytime today, Monday February 12 to Sunday February 18.
For one week we will do a rolling hunger strike in solidarity with the hunger strike and work stoppage currently happening in the Northwest Detention Center as well as the harsh retaliation they are receiving from Geo. We invite you, whether individually or with an organization, to join us by choosing one day of the week (or more) and going on hunger strike. We are doing this to honor the current hunger strikers’ demands inside, and to demand an end to detention and an end to deportation.
Activists who speak out against ICE and the deportation machine are targeted by the state, whether inside the detention center or outside. When people detained at NWDC go on hunger strike to demand better conditions inside and an end to deportations, GEO Group retaliates with isolation, threats of force feeding, physical and emotional abuse, and more. When people on the outside demand freedom of movement for all and take actions in line with those demands, the state spies on us, our families, deports us, arrests us, intimidates us. But we are not alone. Inside or out, we will continue to work towards a world with no detention and no deportations. We will continue to work towards a world where freedom of movement is granted for all people.
Join us and pick a day between February 12 and February 18 to strike in solidarity with the activists detained at NWDC.
1 - Email us at resistenciasolidarity (at) gmail.com and tell us what day.
2 - Take a picture of yourself, or your organization, with the signs attached (or make your own) and post them to your social media! Tag us!
3 - Write a message or letter of support to the strikers inside. We will send them the messages and photos.
4 - Download our most recent People’s Tribunal findings and use them as talking points to chat with people around why you’re on hunger strike.
Messaging for signs:
Activists Across Walls
Week of Hunger Strikes
#WeAreNotAlone
#TacomaStrike #YouCantDeportAMovement #HungerStrikersVsICE #MaruVsICE #DetentionStrike #EndDetentionEndDeportation
February 2018 Breaking Hunger Strike & Third Annual People's Tribunal Report
#MaruVersusICE
Hunger Strikes: A Call to End Immigrant Detention
Watch our newest 11 minute documentary!
Hunger Strikes: A Call to End Immigrant Detention from Resistencia NW on Vimeo.
September 4th: A Dozen Continue on Hunger Strike in NWDC. Cuban Asylum Seekers Face Force Feeding and Solitary Confinement
Support Camp Zapata!
Farmworkers strike after the death of a fellow worker in Sumas, WA.
Fourth Hunger Strike of 2017 Happening Now!
Two Upcoming Events:
July 20 - Justice for Cynthia
July 23 - Hunger Striker Documentary Release
Support the Hunger Strikers! June 20 Call To Action!
Maru Joins the Tacoma 12 & Adelanto 9 in Calling for an End to Human Rights Abuses in Immigrant Detention
April 2017 Hunger Strike Call to Action!
2. Call ICE and demand that they meet the Hunger Strikers' Demands (see below) and that GEO Group not retaliate against hunger strikers. We have reports that strikers have been threatened with transfer to facilities away from their loved ones as punishment.
Acting Field Director, Bryan S. Willcox
Assistance Field Director (Detention): William Penaloza
Facility Main Telephone: (253) 779.6000
Field Office Main Telephone Line: (206) 835.0650
Hunger Striker’s Demands
▪ Change the food menu
▪ Lower commissary prices.
▪ Improve hygiene, including the ability to wash clothes with soap and water.
▪ Increase recreation time.
▪ Have schoolwork and other programs available to keep detainees occupied.
▪ Improve medical attention.
▪ Increase wages for working detainees.
▪ Help speed up the legal process for detainees.
Other hunger strike updates 4/14/17: Seventy Detained Women Join Protest as Hunger Strike Enters Fifth Day. Download the press release on our press page here. Follow our social media for updates.
April 12th Update: 750+ Immigrants on Hunger Strike at the Northwest Detention Center
Prince and Jonathan, two of over 700 hunger strikers being held inside the Northwest Detention Center. Listen to Jonathan explain why he's on hunger strike.
Visit our press page here. Follow our social media for updates.
Breaking News: 100+ Immigrants Start Hunger Strike at the Northwest Detention Center
Download the press release here. Follow our social media for updates.
Download the Hunger Strikers Handbook Now!
The Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA is one of the largest immigration prisons in the country, with the capacity to hold up to 1,575 people. On Friday, March 7, 2014, over one thousand people held in the NWDC fought back against an unjust system by putting their bodies on the line: a hunger strike. The strike continued for 56 days and spread to other detention centers across the USA. This year, on the third anniversary of their action, we reflect on their achievements and make an abolitionist call to stop locking people up and end all deportations. Learn more and download the Hunger Strikers Handbook.
Feb 26, 2017 Second People's Tribunal against the Immigration System and the Northwest Detention Center
On February 26th, 2017 we gathered outside the Northwest Detention Center to hold a hearing pertaining to the detention and deportation process, conditions of the detention center, and treatment of detainees. Download the hearing findings here.
Time to Rise
Darker times are coming. As undocumented immigrants and co-conspirers we are committed to continue fighting for justice and ending detentions and deportations. And we will continue to offer our hands to all other communities that will be targeted.
This election was won by first attacking immigrants of color and giving permission to all the bigots to use us as a punching bag for their frustrations against the establishment. Then other communities were lined up for the punching.
But all those punches and promises from the now-winner of the presidential election have already been happening to most of us. The difference is that now it will happen to the rest of the country. This moment calls for a ramping up in organizing towards an end to all deportations and detention, and collective liberation for all of us. This moment, we must unite forces and work together.
We are the experts alongside many other communities of color in surviving. We are the experts in protecting each other. We are the experts and have organized for a long time. We are willing to share our knowledge of wining and resisting. We need each other. We need to fight together.
Will you join us?
Will you protect us as we will protect you?
Will you be there for us when they come to get us and try to deport us?
Will you organize with us?
Will you?
Support this work and pledge to fight alongside us and other folks targeted. Making a donation today. Become a sustaining supporter and donate $5-20 a month for the next four years.
Stay connected via Facebook.
See you in the streets.
Join Us Oct 29th: Dia de los Muertos @ NWDC
Dia de los muertos is a cultural and spiritual celebration that brings together souls of our departure ones and the importance of having a quality of life for those celebrating this important Mexican festivity.
NWDC Resistance and partners invite you to celebrate with us and to call for an end to detentions and deportations, without forgetting the thousands of people still detained and separated from their loved one in detention centers throughout the nation.
At NWDC Tacoma, we call for this place to shut down and be replaced with a community space that commemorates life not incarceration.
As DHS, under outside pressures, holds a small group of people to write a “review” of the private detention centers they use to incarcerate people awaiting for a result on their deportation process, we ask you to join us and listen to the voices of those detained, the voices that DHS refuses to listen to while making any decisions about their lives.
Join us for a weekend of learning, sharing and working towards liberation of our communities of color.
There will be different events and activities happening with the help of members of the Tacoma community and beyond.
We remind our allies that this event will create a space of respect and intentantionally stopping any cultural appropriation from happening.
We also ask that everyone that attends participate fully and engage with us respectfully.
People in detention are waiting for us to take action, not only to observe without taking their call seriously.
A detailed agenda will be shared later on, keep an eye on the event page.
Solidarity with Standing Rock #NoDAPL
Read our solidarity statement with the people of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline and work for the future of our land and people. Our liberation are connected.
ICE-Free Zone Flyers
Check out our ICE Free Zone Flyers, download them on our Press page.
Happy #MamasDay from the NWDC Resistance
As we celebrate Mother's Day, we reflect on the US immigration policy that separates mothers from their families. We want to see an end to deportations and an end to detention. We want to see our families together and thriving. So NWDC Resistance teamed up with CultureStrike, Presente.org, Forward Together,and Strong Families to deliver Mamas Day Cards to Mamas inside the Northwest Detention Center.
The Mamas Day Project started in 2011 to create cards that reflect the various ways our mamas and families look, including a spectrum of gender, race, income, sexual orientation, immigration status, and more. This year NWDCR teamed up with the Mamas Day Project and took those cards in to the Northwest Detention Center and delivered to Mamas inside.
For more on Mamas Day, click here
DUMP TRUMP, Lynden Washington Style.
On Saturday May 7th, 2016 we participated in a blockade on a hot road in Lynden, Washington that lead to a Donald Trump rally. Over a dozen Latinx, Native American, and white Washington residents risked arrest blocking traffic to two main roads in Lynden, Washington during a Donald Trump Rally with “Make Lynden Coast Salish Again” banners.
"As someone who has grown up in Washington, today I am putting my body on the line to stop fascism from taking over our country. Today I am fighting for my mom, for my Native American neighbors and friends, and anyone who has been the target of hatred whether it comes from Trump or the local police. The residents of Lynden today have a chance to stand with us and reject hate,” said Josefina Mora, 18, one of the participant’s of today’s action.."
Call to Action: Justice for Angel Padilla!
Angel Padilla is being detained at the NWDC without access to the healthcare his life depends on. Desperately in need of a major surgery for a cancerous tumor in his left kidney, Padilla waits in an immigration detention center that does not and will not provide adequate health care. Take action now and demand that Angel Padilla is released immediately, that he be given full access to medical files, and that his deportation be stopped altogether.
Padilla is one of 1,500+ detainees in the Northwest Detention Center exposed to human rights violations on a daily basis. Many who are detained not only have health care needs that are not met, but are often put in solitary confinement instead of being provided with adequate health care. This needs to stop!
Learn more about his story here:
http://www.thestranger.com/news/feature/2016/02/24/23614331/fighting-cancer-and-deportation-at-the-same-time
Take Action Now!
1) Call the Seattle ICE Field Office Director Nathalie Asher: (206) 835-0058
Suggested script: “Hello, I’m calling about the detention of Mr. Padilla (A 092 721 003), a 39-year-old man currently detained at the Northwest Detention Center. In December 2015, a CAT scan detected a cancerous tumor in his left kidney. Mr. Padilla’s health is deteriorating in detention and on February 19 he was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in his cell. I’m aware Mr. Padilla has a conviction from 1996, but I also know he has taken the steps to atone for his actions. I urge you to use prosecutorial discretion and release Mr. Padilla from immigration detention, so he can receive the medical attention he needs to survive.”
2) Sign the petition and demand: Justice for Angel! Click here to sign the petition and join NWDC Resistance and the #Not1More Campaign in sending a message to ICE officials.
People's Tribunal Against the Tacoma Immigration Prison aka Northwest Detention Center 2/6/2016 at the NWDC
for more information: www.facebook.com/events/453250351547234/
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#SHUTDOWNICE ACTION 9/21/2015 at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington
For press about this action visit our Press page.
Diverse coalition of activists risk arrest to stop immigrant deportations, call for immediate end to detentions. Community members lock down for what has become a global human rights issue
September 21, 2015, at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, more than 20 community members locked down to prevent the morning's deportation buses from leaving the privately run facilities.
The goal was not only to prevent the day's immigrant deportations, but also to protest the criminalization and scapegoating of immigrants, highlight the moral injustice of privately-run for-profit detention centers and their collaboration with the local police departments creating a road to detention, and call for an end to all immigrant deportations and detentions.
Banners spread next to protesters read "Climate Justice means Ending Deportations" "Queers Demand and End to Detention" and "Not1More", speaking to how immigration is an environmental issue and issue of gender justice.
"Climate change is resulting in worsening drought and super-storm conditions which displace millions across the globe. These climate refugees will number 200 million by 2050. World leaders and communities across the U.S. need to end these unjust deportations and commit to policies that stop climate change." said Jill Mangaliman, one of the protesters locked down today and executive director of Got Green.
Members of TWAC (Trans and/or Women Action Camp) carried signs protesting ICE's controversial practice of placing transgender detainees in solitary confinement. While transgender women only make up 1 out of 500 detained immigrants in this country, they make up an alarming 1 out of every 5 confirmed sexual assaults in immigration detention.
Participants of the day's blockade, which included Rising Tide Seattle, the Raging Grannies, and other groups fighting for climate justice, economic justice, reproductive justice, worker rights, and more, vow to keep returning to the detention center for future actions as long as unjust detentions and deportations continue.
Watch clips here! http://notonemoredeportation.com/2015/09/21/Tacoma
Spread the word & share!
Meet Some of the Folks Who Locked Down & Why
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“I’m here to end deportations because I want a world where families can stay together and people be treated humanely . I have family and friends impacted by this unhealthy, violent system of detaining and disposing of communities in the name of profits. Then from super typhoon Haiyan to Hurricane Katrina, to the wildfires and drought here and around the world, people of color are bearing the brunt of environmental racism and displacement from their homes. I want to see justice for all the migrants who have been forced to migrate because of the damage to their homelands caused by this destructive economy. Privatization, market-based solutions are false solutions! Climate justice means ending deportations and detentions.” – Jill Mangaliman |
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“As a queer Xicano of Mexican diaspora and a child of an immigrant, I feel personally connected to the importance of stopping and ending detentions. Stopping detentions is queer and gender justice because there are so many trans and queer people who are detained who experience transphobic and homophobic targeting within the system and who aren't getting proper/gender affirming care. No one should be detained and no one is illegal.” - Yecelica Valdiva |
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“I’m participating in this action for my mom who is undocumented, and for all the children of undocumented parents that are separated from their families because of this unjust system. “ -Josefina Mora |
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“I decided to do another direct action to stop detentions and deportation with the possibility of risking arrest and deportation because I believe the federal and local authorities continue cooperating to criminalize our communities of color.While we are here outside organizing to bring light to this violation of human rights, this private prison is at capacity, thousands of people are there waiting to be deported, separated from their loved ones, living infra-humane conditions just so Geo corporation can make more profits and ICE meets their daily quota.We have to end this corruption and it has to end now!” - Maru Mora Vilalpando |
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"I am participating in this action because I want to support the movement to end deportations. We don't need borders or prisons. Our action is one small part of a dynamic, growing movement to stop the violence of immigration enforcement." - Dean Spade |
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"I am doing this work because we need to understand why people migrate in the first place. Everything is connected. Everything. Environmental justice is connected to food justice is connected to reproductive justice, racial justice, gender justice is connected to immigrant rights. " - Elizabeth Ortega |
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"I am risking arrest as a Jew, whose family has survived the horrors of being targets of the state. I am alive today because of immigration, and therefore I cannot in good conscious be idle while this country, and corporations like Geo Group, profit from the targeting, detention, and deportation of people in our community." - Ross Kirshenbaum |
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"I'm participating in the Deportation Resistance because my identity grants me the privilege to avoid being targeted for an ignorant kind of xenophobia that is maintained by hatred." - Emanuel da Silva |
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"I am very concerned with how we are treating immigrants in this country and am here to bring attention to the plight of those who are being separated from their families. My grandparents came to this country from Eastern Europe without documents and were treated well. I am ashamed that this is happening in my country." - Cynthia Linet |
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"We are engaging in a powerful action against a violent system - it is the same government that is responsible for displacing communities around the world (via economic and military policy) and then criminalizing them when entering U.S. borders. And as a white citizen committed to racial justice, I'm hopeful my participation in this action will inspire more white people to join the multiracial, undocumented-led movement for migrant justice." - Sean O'Neill |
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“I am participating in this demonstration and risking arrest to demand an end to immigrant detention and deportations. No one is illegal and no one should be criminalized for migrating. I'm showing up to call for justice and to honor the dignity of everyone impacted by our cruel immigration system.” - Jenny McIntosh |
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“I’m here in solidarity with the Northwest Detention Center because deportation is part of a larger system of oppression built to remove valuable lives of color from the community. Deportation is racist. Drop the borders.” – Max Black |
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“I’m here with Twac (Trans and/or Women Action Camp) locking down in solidarity with the Northwest Detention Center Resistance. I’m here in solidarity with the movement to abolish detention centers and end deportations. “ – Sage Ridenour |
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“I am taking part in this work to support all the organizing being down, tirelessly and passionately, by migrants and their supporters across the land. Migrant justice now! Let’s end the cruel fiction of borders, let’s end incarceration and deportation, let’s make a more just and open world!” - Joe Hiller |
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“I am participating in this action to remind the detainees that they are not alone. That they have strangers and friends on the outside that still care about their lives and their families, and are outraged by the injustices that they face.” – Hollis Proffitt |
NWDC Resistance
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Please donate to this bond fund to help Isabel spend the holidays with her family! Every $1 gets us a little closer to her $2,000 goal!
Bring our neighbors home for the holidays! by Free Our Neighbors
freeourneighbors.wedid.it
Free Our Neighbors from immigration detention before the holidays! No one should spend the holidays in a jail away from their families and communities.Last month, New York became the second state in which an appellate state court ruled that local law enforcement officers could not detain immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which then typically puts them into the deportation system.
State Courts Become Battleground Over Trump’s Sanctuary Cities Policy
nytimes.com
Lawyers for immigrants have started to convince judges that state laws prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Courthouse arrests happened under Democratic President Barack Obama, but advocates and lawyers across the country have said the practice has increased under Republican President Donald Trump, creating tensions between judges and federal agents in many states.
Ex-judges to ICE: End immigration arrests at courthouses
apnews.com
BOSTON (AP) — Dozens of retired state and federal judges called Wednesday on U.S. immigration officials to stop making arrests at courthouses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, s...Criminal justice reform is desperately needed to address the epidemic of mass incarceration and criminalization. The irony of excluding immigrants from federal criminal justice reform is that migration-related cases make up more than half of all federal criminal prosecutions in the U.S.
Criminal justice reform forgets immigrants
thehill.com
Efforts to increase punishments for immigrants manifests itself in both our immigration policy and our criminal justice system.Thank you Kathy for sharing our actions
Kathy
At the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. 40 more activists caged inside on hunger strike. See NWDC Resistance for more.
CoreCivic, which operates immigrant detention centers, warned a law-enforcement agency not to make its investigation into a detainee’s death public.
#AbolishICE #EndImpunity
Why Does CoreCivic Want a Detainee's Death Report Kept Sealed? | Capital & Main
capitalandmain.com
Co-published by Fast Company How a private prison company silenced the Georgia Bureau of Investigation from releasing details about an immigrant detainee's death.For the first time in Washington state's history, Governor Inslee grants an emergency pardon without having to go in front of the clemency and pardons board. #Not1More #ChingaLaMigra
Cambodians use pardons to beat Trump admin's deportation orders
nbcnews.com
The governors of Washington and California have employed pardons to stop long-term resident refugees from being deported to a homeland they don't remember.This is the latest move in the president’s long record of prioritizing harsh immigration and asylum restrictions, and one that’s sure to raise eyebrows—the White House had hesitantly backed off the plan in August before reversing course. In essence, the administration has now decided that Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the establishment of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam are subject to standard immigration law—meaning they are all eligible for deportation.
Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees
theatlantic.com
The White House again wants to expel certain groups of protected immigrants, a reversal after backing away from the policy months ago.the largest deportation flight of Southeast Asia immigrants is scheduled for next monday. see scripting at this link and please call to tell Omni air international to stop the deportation flights! docs.google.com/document/d/1sd98U-vHJeGWKLfRzqwbbOdZhYb_-rLMVf12p6qFmOk/mobilebasic
We are happy to announce our collaboration with Fuerza Colectiva.
#realsolidarity #collectivepower #juntxspodemosAn Important Update from Fuerza Colectiva:
On December 7, 2018, six members of Fuerza Colectiva met for a day-long retreat in the Bellevue Library. We solidified our organizational structure, began drafting our proposal for collaboration with the NWDC Resistance/Resistencia al NWDC, and discussed individual and collective healing. The six members of Fuerza Colectiva who have committed to being a part of the Fuerza Colectiva Core Team are: Alyssa Muñoz, Elizabeth Rueda Herrera, Estefania Narvaez (La Guipi), Rocio Carranza (Xio Evelin), Sareni Ruiz, and Vanessa Reyes (Vane Rey).
As the Fuerza Core Team, during the next six months, we will focus on our collaboration with the NWDC Resistance---specifically the NWDCR's Direct Contact and Events and Education Teams, increase our social media presence, build our base, and turn out to events put on by groups we are in solidarity with--such as the NWDC Resistance, the No New Youth Jail Coalition, and other groups and events that highlight Queer issues, Black issues, and anti-imperialism.
For any past or current Fuerza members or anyone who is interested in joining as a new member, send us a message via facebook or email (fuerzacolectivapnw@gmail.com), so we can give you more details on how you can get involved. There are a lot of opportunities to support our collaboration with the NWDC Resistance!
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Una noticia importante de Fuerza Colectiva:
El 7 de diciembre de 2018, seis miembrxs de Fuerza Colectiva se reunieron para un retiro de un día en la biblioteca de bellevue. Solidificamos nuestra estructura organizativa, comenzamos nuestra propuesta de colaboración con La Resistencia al NWDC, y hablamos sobre la curación individual y colectiva. Lxs seis miembrxs de Fuerza Colectiva que se han comprometido a formar parte del equipo central de Fuerza Colectiva son: Alyssa Muñoz, Elizabeth Rueda Herrera, Estefania Narvaez, Rocio Carranza,, Sareni Ruiz, y Vanessa Reyes .
Como el equipo central de Fuerza, durante los próximos seis meses, nos enfocaremos en nuestra colaboración con La Resistencia al NWDC---específicamente los equipos de Contacto Directo y de Eventos & Educación de La Resistencia, aumentar nuestra presencia en las redes sociales, aumentar nuestra base de miembrxs, y estar presente en más eventos de grupos con quien estamos en solidaridad--como La Resistencia al NWDC, la Coalición de No Nueva Cárcel Juvenil, y otros grupos y eventos que destacan asuntos de la comunidad Queer, la comunidad Negra, y el anti-imperialismo.
Miembrxs de Fuerza o personxs interesadxs en unirse como miembrxs nuevxs, mandenos un mensaje por facebook o correo electronico (fuerzacolectivapnw@gmail.com) para que podamos compartis mas detalles sobre como pueden participar. ¡Hay muchas oportunidades de apoyar nuestra colaboración con La Resistencia al NWDC!
It’s unclear if GEO’s memo was seen by the secretary of homeland security or then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or if it influenced the Justice Department’s lawsuit against California sanctuary laws. The federal government’s complaint, filed in March, did not challenge the section of AB 103 that banned the expansion of county-level detention contracts. Instead, it focused on a requirement that the state attorney general inspect any facilities where detained immigrants are held. GEO’s facilities haven’t fared well in similar inspections. A surprise inspection of Adelanto by a federal watchdog agency in May turned up evidence of systemic problems, including monthslong wait times for medical care, guards who mocked detainees who had attempted suicide, and the overuse of solitary confinement. In its suit against California, the Trump administration argued that state inspections of immigration facilities would improperly interfere with “law-enforcement efforts.”
When the biggest prison company complained about a California sanctuary law, ICE listened
motherjones.com
ICE cited a GEO Group memo in its analysis of a bill targeting immigration detention.Support those on #hungerstrike, take 3 minutes and call Governor Inslee. Script below.
Today marks the second day of the most recent hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center with more than 40 people refusing food. Last night we held a vigil outside in solidarity with those on hunger strike. Keep those calls to Inslee coming!
Call on Governor Jay Inslee to visit people detained in his state and hear their concerns first-hand.
Governor Inslee
Phone number: 360.902.4111
SAMPLE CALL SCRIPT:
I am calling about the human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. Less than 3 weeks after Russian asylum seeker Amar Mergensana died under the watch of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a new hunger strike has started at the Detention Center demanding better health care, wages, treatment from guards, and more. I am asking the Governor investigate the conditions of the NWDC as well as Amar's death. As part of this investigation, Governor Inslee should personally visit his constituents - the people held at the Northwest Detention Center - and hear their claims.
All hands on deck moment: Please call and share TODAY. 46 Cambodian refugees are set to be deported this Monday. Please call Omni Air International, the charter airline that ICE has hired to deport them. These deportations can be stopped. Omni must refuse to take part in Trump's deportation terror. #not1more
In a statement released minutes after the verdict was announced, the defendants wrote, “We are guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm. The real crime is the government’s cowardly, inhumane and barely legal deportation flights and the unprecedented use of terror law to crack down on peaceful protest. We must challenge this shocking use of draconian legislation, and continue to demand an immediate end to these secretive deportation charter flights and a full independent public inquiry into the government’s ‘hostile environment’.”
For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2018
Hunger Strike Begins at Northwest Detention Center with Dozens Refusing Meals
Detained immigrants renew call for medical attention; decry GEO Group guards’ racism
Contact: Andrea Marcos, andrea.emily.marcos@gmail.com, 206 681 7117
Maru Mora Villalpando, maru@latinoadvocacy.org, 206 251 6658
Tacoma, WA -- On Tuesday, December 11, up to 40 immigrants detained at the now infamous Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma began refusing meals, initiating a hunger strike in protest of the conditions they face. One detained activist listed the group’s demands as follows: “I am part of a group of detainees that are going to go on hunger strike as the only way to protest and shine a light on the abuses that we suffer here. We are going on strike because: 1) the abuse of the NWDC Director; 2) The abuse of the guards; 3) The lack of medical attention; 4) the bad food; 5) the salary of a $1 per day; and 6) that they rob our property.” This strike is the latest in a series of strikes protesting conditions inside the facility; the most recent mass strike began on August 21 in conjunction with a national prison strike.
This December strike follows the November 24th death of Amar Mergensana, who participated in the August strike and was hospitalized following 86 days of refusing meals. Though Mr. Mergensana asked for medical treatment repeatedly in the days before he was sent to St. Joseph’s, his requests were ignored. His death follows a pattern of abuse, violence, callousness and death of detainees in ICE and GEO Group custody. One person currently on hunger strike reports that denial of medical care continue, with a fellow detained person brought to tears in his cell from pain and vomiting. The activist reports that “I don’t know what happened to him because they took him out of the pod and placed him in solitary [confinement].” NWDC Resistance member Maru Mora Villalpando responded, “Rather than provide adequate medical care to detained immigrants, GEO Group and ICE are placing them in solitary confinement. They have proven themselves incapable of providing even the most basic medical care to people detained.” The multiple outbreaks of mumps and varicella in 2018 further point to the dangerous conditions for those detained.
Detained hunger-strikers also decry the NWDC director and guards’ overt racism, reporting that they feel threatened. One activist reports that the guards often “act like their fingers are guns and pretend to shoot us.” These small acts carry weight in an immigration prison where armed guards have the power to confiscate food, clothes, and personal belongings.
NWDC Resistance invites Tacoma residents to support detained activists at a vigil today, December 11 at 8:00pm, calling on GEO Group not to retaliate with the use of solitary confinement, threats of force feeding, or otherwise violating detainees’ free speech rights. Likewise, the group renews our call to Governor Jay Inslee to visit people detained in his state and hear their concerns first-hand. “If the City of Tacoma and State of Washington governments fail to take action, we fear that detained immigrants will continue to suffer unjust and deadly conditions,” concluded NWDC Resistance member Andrea Marcos.
For live updates, visit www.facebook.com/NWDCResistance/.
NWDC Resistance – Supporting those facing deportation inside the...
nwdcresistance.org
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The Department of Corrections (DOC) has agreed to negotiate with a group of inmates at Rush City prison after more than 100 offenders staged a work strike last week to protest what they call “abusive” conditions
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Courts across the country are facing similar questions, prompting the Trump administration to begin a test program in Florida this year in hopes of shielding law enforcement agencies from lawsuits. The program contracts local jails to hold immigrants for up to 48 hours on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One of the 17 agencies participating in Florida was sued this week by a U.S. citizen, detained on behalf of federal agents who reported the man may be eligible for deportation to Jamaica. The lawsuit accused the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office of violating the man’s constitutional rights.
Outside the NWDC: We’re still here and will not go away until this place is shut down.