[Pnews] Immigrant detainees on hunger strike allege threats by guards

[Prisoner News]

  Immigrant detainees on hunger strike allege threats by guards

by Renee Lewis 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/l/renee-lewis.html> March 20, 
2014 7:30PM ET
*http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/20/immigration-detaineesonhungerstrikecitethreatsinhumanetreatment.html*

Strikers in two centers owned by the same company allege mistreatment, 
call for an end to deportations

Hunger-strikers protesting poor treatment and deportation at an 
immigration detention center in Tacoma, Wash., have accused a private 
security firm that runs the facility of threatening retaliation against 
participants, days after a second strike broke out at another detention 
facility in Conroe, Texas, run by the same company.

"Guards threatened at least two detainees with deportation for their 
participation in the strike," Maru Mora Villalpando, CEO of Latino 
Advocacy, told Al Jazeera. "We have also heard from people who said the 
guards told them they would be force-fed if the hunger strike continued."

That got the attention of the American Civil Rights Union, Villalpando 
said, adding that the organization has sent lawyers to meet with hunger 
strikers at Northwest Detention Center. At last count, there were 11 
people on strike there, Villalpando said, before saying that it was 
nearly impossible to get information from the inside.

Detainees held at Northwest Detention Center launched their hunger 
strike 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/8/hundreds-of-immigrationdetaineeslaunchhungerstrikeinwashington.html>on 
March 7, when they began skipping scheduled meals, according to U.S. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The detainees are demanding better treatment inside the center, and more 
broadly for President Barack Obama to sign an executive order ending 
deportations 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/al-jazeera-america-presents-borderland/multimedia/2014/3/identifying-unknownbodiesinthepimacountrymorgue.html>, 
according Villalpando.

"My son has been on hunger strike for six days now," one relative of a 
detainee, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told 
Villalpando. Other relatives told Latino Advocacy that family members 
detained in the facility had ended their hunger strike because of 
threats from guards --- who had reportedly told them they would be 
deported or have their asylum cases closed if they continued.

GEO Group, Inc., the for-profit prison corporation that owns the two 
detention centers along with 98 other correctional, detention and 
residential treatment facilities in the U.S. and abroad, moved several 
detainees into "medical isolation" as a result of their participation in 
the hunger strike, Villalpando said.

Any detainees at Northwest Detention Center who were identified as going 
without food for 72 hours were placed under medical observation away 
from the general population for monitoring, ICE said.

The government agency, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, 
contends that it has taken no punitive actions against individuals 
participating in the hunger strike.

"ICE fully respects the rights of all people to express their opinion 
without interference and has acted in good faith to address concerns," 
Andrew Munoz, public affairs officer for ICE, told Al Jazeera.

On Thursday, ICE announced that medical officials had declared four 
detainees at the facility to be on hunger strike. Two of those detainees 
remain under medical observation. The other two have since resumed 
eating and were returned to the general population, the agency said.

Miguel Farias was one of the detainees transferred to medical isolation 
after he began rejecting meals. However, Farias ended his hunger strike 
on Monday because he "wanted to see other people."

"The hunger strike and lack of food didn't break his spirit, but the 
isolation was too much," Villalpando said, adding that two others were 
still in medical isolation as far as she knows --- Jesus Gaspar and 
Ramon Mendoza.

"It's so hard to get information out, there are probably more people on 
strike in Tacoma than we know of --- those striking on and off, or those 
who just started," she said. "It's impossible to know."

Complicating the availability of information, guards have reportedly 
prevented more than two or three detainees from congregating in the 
facility at any given time, according to Villalpando.

GEO Group has denied all allegations of guard retaliation against hunger 
strikers, saying that its facilities conform to ICE's operating standards.

"GEO's immigration facilities provide high-quality services in safe, 
secure, and humane residential environments, and our company strongly 
refutes allegations to the contrary," Pablo Paez, Vice President of 
Corporate Relations at the company, told Al Jazeera.

"It's important to emphasize that as a matter of long-standing policy, 
our company does not take a position on or advocate for any specific 
immigration policy," he added.

However, Jose Morena, an organizer of the Washington hunger strike who 
was released on bond from Northwest Detention Center last Thursday, 
contends that guards have retaliated.

He said he stopped eating for one week before guards at the facility 
threatened to transfer him to another facility if he didn't start 
eating, saying that none of his family or supporters would know where he 
was, Moreno told Al Jazeera.

After the threat, and after guards started taking down the names of 
those on hunger strike, Moreno decided to end his strike. He's in good 
health now, but said it was an "unpleasant experience." He added that 
the guards, "especially the guards of GEO," treated him very badly.

"One day, I got a severe nose bleed and signed up for medical service," 
Moreno said. He waited more than 24 hours to be called to the medical 
unit, but was never summoned. "When I went to sleep, I almost drowned in 
my own blood," he said.

On Monday, immigrants detained in another GEO-owned center, the Joe 
Corley Detention facility in Conroe, Texas, launched their own hunger 
strike. They said the action was inspired by the detainees in Washington 
and echoed similar complaints.

An eight-page handwritten letter 
<http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/2014/03/17/breaking-hunger-strikes-spread-to-texas-detention-center/> from 
the Texas hunger strikers was posted on the website "Not One More 
Deportation."

"[We] demand that the Federal Executive [President Obama] use his 
presidential authority and order a total stop to the unjust deportations 
that are separating families, destroying homes, and bringing 
uncertainty, insecurity, and unhappy futures to our children, our loved 
ones," the letter states.

The detainees also called for transparency and accurate figures 
reflecting cases where detainees were forced to sign their own 
deportation orders "under pressure and lies," and those whose cases have 
been open for more than one year without resolution.

Under President Obama's watch, nearly two million people 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/national-council-of-la-raza-janet-murguia-barack-obama-deporter-in-chief-immigration-104217.html> have 
been deported. Last week, his administration ordered a full review 
<http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/13/obama-orders-reviewofusdeportationpractices.html> of 
the country's deportation policies.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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