[Pnews] NW Detention Center - 3rd week of hunger strike - ICE meets with negotiators

[Prisoner News]

AS HUNGER STRIKE ENTERS THIRD WEEK, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICIALS BEGIN ADDRESSING DEMANDS


SEATTLE, WA - As the hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center 
enters its third week, senior officials from Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement (ICE) met this morning in the federal agency's Seattle 
office with the three-person negotiation team designated by the hunger 
strikers. The gathering came one full week after the negotiation team's 
request for a meeting with ICE to discuss hunger striker's demands. The 
meeting was held 30 miles north of the facility where hunger strike 
leaders Ramon Mendez Pascual and Jesus Gaspar Navarro are currently on 
day 15 of their fast.


During the meeting, the negotiation team delineated each of the hunger 
striker's demands, including improved conditions at the detention 
center, increased access to bond to secure release, and an end to 
deportations. ICE asked for additional time to address the striker's 
demands for decreased phone rates, increased phone quality,  and 
decreased commissary prices. For-profit company Talton Communications is 
contracted by ICE to provide phone services at the facility, and Keefe 
Group is sub-contracted by the GEO Group, the private prison company 
that runs the facility, to stock the detention center's commissary. Maru 
Mora Villalpando, a member of the negotiations team notes, "The fact 
that it's not just GEO Group, but at least two other companies holding 
contracts at this federal facility only highlights how every aspect of 
the hunger striker's detention is exploited for profit." She added, 
"While we are heartened by ICE's willingness to look into these issues, 
every day that passes without changes in place further puts the hunger 
strikers' health at risk."


The negotiation team echoed U.S. Rep Adam Smith's request for ICE and 
GEO Group to disclose audits of the facility, with the negotiation team 
making a call for an independent community audit. "Given the abuses the 
hunger strike has revealed, it is clear that we cannot allow ICE and GEO 
to police themselves," noted Mora Villalpando.


The strike at the Northwest Detention Center has inspired a similar 
action in Texas, where 120 detainees began a hunger strike this past 
Monday. Alarming reports of retaliation, including hunger strikers 
disappearing from their cells and others being forced to sign 
deportation orders have emerged from the GEO Group owned Joe Corley 
Detention Facility in Conroe, TX.


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Maru Mora Villalpando
Latino Advocacy
www.latinoadvocacy.org <http://www.latinoadvocacy.org>
206-251-6658 <tel:206-251-6658>

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