[Pnews] Tacoma Immigration Prison - Immigrants Add Work Stoppage to Protest of their Conditions

[Prisoner News]

maru at latinoadvocacy.org <mailto:maru at latinoadvocacy.org>


April 11, 2017


More than 400 Immigrants Join Hunger Strike at

Tacoma Immigration Prison

Immigrants at Northwest Detention Center Add Work Stoppage to Protest of 
their Conditions


Tacoma, WA - Yesterday at noon over 100 immigrants incarcerated at the 
Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) refused their lunch, launching a 
hunger strike to protest their treatment inside the immigration prison. 
Supporters who rallied outside the facility received constant updates 
from people detained as more pods (housing units inside the facility) 
joined the call to not eat, not to use the phones, and not to buy from 
the commissary. By Tuesday morning over 400 people had begun refusing 
meals, with reports of strikers in 9 different pods throughout the 
facility. Incarcerated immigrants are currently paid $1 a day to clean 
and provide upkeep for the the facility, cook the meals, and do the 
laundry. However, in at least four pods, the people detained also called 
for a work stoppage, throwing the immigration prison’s functions into 
chaos.


As the sun rose on the second day of the hunger strike, ICE moved 
forward with their planned Tuesday morning deportations, with two buses 
emblazoned with the GEO Group logo leaving the facility full of people. 
Additionally, ICE cancelled the daily immigration courts hearings, 
attempting to break the unity and morale of those on hunger strike by 
halting the hearings some immigrants had waited months for. Hunger 
strikers also reported that GEO guards were blocking television access, 
barring strikers from watching news accounts of their efforts.


Despite the retaliation, the strike continued, with participant 
Alejandro Macias noting that losing his freedom emboldened him to 
strike, "We won't give up, what else can they do to us? These abuses 
must end.” Another hunger striker, detained artist Juan Manuel with the 
popular musical group Raza Obrera, has begun writing a song about the 
strike, saying, “We are united and we won't stop, we need to be treated 
fairly. We are humans beings not animals.”


Community members set up an encampment at the gates of the facility, 
planning to stay for the duration of the strike. A solidarity rally is 
planned for 6 p.m. tonight. For live updates, visit 
https://www.facebook.com/NWDCResistance/.


###

NWDC Resistanceis a volunteer community group that emerged to fight 
deportations in 2014 at the now-infamous Northwest Detention Center in 
Tacoma, WA as part of the #Not1more campaign, and supported people 
detained who organized hunger strikes asking for a halt to all 
deportations and better treatment and conditions.

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