All posts in Detention Hunger Strikes

Apr

An Open Letter to Sasha Obama from One Daughter to Another

Tags: ernestina hernandez, hunger strike, melanny martinez, white house hunger strike

What would you do if your Dad never came back home?

Dear Sasha Obama,

My name is Melanny Martinez. I am thirteen years old and I am currently in the seventh grade at a Catholic private school in Texas. I know you go to private school too and you must understand how hard they can be sometimes. I wanted to write you a letter because I believe you could understand what I am going through. This might be a little odd and I don’t know if you will ever get to read this, but I thought it was worth a try. Read more

Apr

Melissa Harris-Perry: Immigrant Hunger Strike Rolls On

Tags: ernestina hernandez, hunger strike, manuel martinez, melissa harris perry, white house hunger strike

Comments: No

Find more information about the White House Hunger Strike Here

Apr

ICE Attempts to Punish, Disappear Civil Rights Leaders in Detention Prompt Briefing With White House Hunger Strikers to Expose Conditions, Urge Negotiation Not Retaliation for Detainees’ Whistle Blowing

Tags: ernestina hernandez, hunger strike, joe corley detention center, melanny martinez, northwest detention center, tacoma, texas, white house hunger strike

Comments: No

What: Press Conference preceding Congressional Briefing
When: 1:10pm Friday, April 18th, 2014
Where: Rayburn 2103, Washington, DC
Who: Catalina Nieto, Detention Watch Network, Ernestina Hernandez who’s husband Manuel was deported from the Joe Corley Detention Center, Marisa Franco, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Maru Mora Villalpando of Latino Advocacy in Seattle, Drm Action Coalition

“My dad is my hero and I’ll do whatever I have to so he can be home again,” explains Melanie Martinez, age 13, when asked why she and her mother came to Washington, DC as part of the on-going presence outside the White House.

Her mother, Ernestina Hernandez, who will speak today, traveled from Houston, TX to the White House after ICE deported her husband, Manuel Martinez, in retaliation for a hunger strike he participated in at the Joe Corley Detention Center where he had been held.

In recent months, such centers have been roiled by efforts (In Tacoma, WA, Eloy, AZ, Conroe, TX) of those inside to expose the mistreatment, subpar conditions, and the cost-cutting by the private companies who run them as part of the campaign to urge the President to stop deportations and expand relief. An additional hunger strike just became public at an El Paso, TX facility. And just yesterday, 19 people were arrested in civil disobedience at the Suffolk detention center in Boston that is currently embroiled in lawsuits stemming from a previous hunger strike by detainees there.

Preceding a 2:00pm Congressional briefing, representatives of the Texas and Washington state hunger strike and those who started an on-going presence at the White House on April 5th will host a press conference with the Detention Watch Network exposing the conditions inside the Detention Centers and urging DHS and ICE to address hunger strikers demands.

After the Press Conference, participants will hold a Congressional staffer briefing on Detention Center policies, conditions, and resistance. More information on the on-going presence outside the White House available at http://bit.ly/whstrike

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Apr

5 Things You Can Do To Help the White House Hunger-Strike

Tags: blue ribbon commission, deportations, hunger strike, white house

Comments: No

Since April 5th, immigrant families at the center of the immigration debate have created an indefinite presence on the President’s front lawn asking that he meet with them directly, and stop detaining and deporting their family members.

With record-breaking deportations, and a burgeoning immigration detention complex, our immigrant communities are starving for relief, and have brought that starvation, front and center, to the President’s doorsteps. On April 8th, immigrant families from Arizona started a hunger strike at the White House. This week, we have a family from Texas continuing the hunger strike, and soon, others will arrive from Georgia and Louisiana to escalate.

We need all the support we can get. Here are some things that community members and supporters can do to help the hunger-striking families and keep pressure on the White House to stop the deportations:

1. Volunteer shifts: We are asking volunteers to support the hunger strikers by joining them at the White House (at Lafayette Park) in three hour shifts. Volunteers will keep the hunger strikers company, help ensure their needs are met, demonstrate solidarity, deal with passers-by when necessary, and help out with set up and clean up of the site. If you or your organization can take a shift or an entire day(s), that would be incredibly helpful.

Besides your time, we also need space near the White House, food, meal donations, and materials to continue the hunger-strike so please check out the link here and let us know if you can help us with anything.

2. E-action: The hunger strikers have family members who are detained and facing deportation. Sign the petition to ask the White House to meet with the hunger strikers and stop the deportations of their loved ones here.

3. Join in the events at the White House: If you are in the area, join us for a prayer vigil, happy hour, taller de son jarocho Cosita Seria, or congressional briefings. Check out our calendar of events to get involved.

4. Donations: You can contribute by hitting the donation button above or on this online donation page to help support the hunger strikers and cover logistical costs associated with the action.

5. Read and share the Not One More Blue Ribbon Commission report: Last week, a Blue Ribbon Commission of current and formerly undocumented leaders formed as an independent and parallel body to make recommendations for immediate implementation by the President as he instructs DHS to perform its own review of deportation policy. The report outlines 14 steps available under the legal authority of the President to reduce the harm caused by the status quo and expand affirmative relief to the undocumented.

Apr

Two Busloads of Deportees Leave Northwest Detention Center Under Cover of Darkness, Six More Follow at Dawn; At Least Five Hunger Strikers Among Those Deported

Tags: hunger strike, northwest detention center, tacoma

Comments: No

Tacoma, WA – As supporters looked on, approximately 130 people held at the Northwest Detention Center were taken from the facility this morning as part of its weekly deportation regime. At least five hunger strikers were among those deported, according to an attorney who visited the facility on Sunday.

A hunger strike supporter holding a vigil outside the center observed two buses leaving at 3 a.m. under cover of darkness. Supporters who arrived at dawn to offer witness to the deportations watched six more vehicles, marked “GEO Transport,” (five buses and a van) leaving the center. In what has become a new tactic since the February 24th action that stopped 120 deportations, the buses themselves were used to block supporters from seeing people loaded in chains. Despite these efforts, supporters lined the sidewalk as the buses pulled out, making eye contact with those inside the buses, and chanting, “You are not alone!” and “The struggle continues!” Read more

Apr

500 People Rally Outside Detention Center; Hunger Strike Continues with Ongoing Use of Solitary Confinements

Tags: hunger strike, northwest detention center, tacoma

Comments: No

Tacoma, WA—Five hundred people gathered on April 5th outside of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in order to call attention and offer support to the ongoing hunger strike inside. Organizers hosted workshops and discussions about the history of the detention center and the conditions detainees currently face, while people rallied, hearing from family members affected by deportation. At one point, hunger strikers called organizers of the event, and they were able to listen to the large crowd cheering them on from outside. Since Saturday, April 5, there have been at least 60 people on hunger strike in the detention center.

One hunger striker, Maria Cecilia Huaya Mara, offered this message to supporters: “I’ve been in the US for forty years. I’ve been in detention for two months. I went on a hunger strike for the first time to stop the deportations because I see all these women here, that have been here so long, being torn from their children. There’s tears every day, there’s so much suffering that it’s basically unbearable. The conditions in here are not fit for dogs, the food is mostly beans all day long, and it’s horrible, so I’m protesting that, and I thank everybody out there for their support.” (audio available upon request) The rally was part of a nation-wide series of actions in over 80 different cities on April 5 to call attention to the high numbers of deportations under the Obama administration. It is predicted that the administration will reach 2 million deportations during the month of April. Outside the NWDC, supporters placed 200 flowers, each flower representing 10,000 people deported. Read more

Apr

Tacoma Hunger Strike Leaders Sentenced to Solitary Confinement for Organizing in Detention

Comments: No

Retaliation and Civil Rights Violations Pile Up at the NWDC in Tacoma. Remaining original hunger striker breaks fast and placed in retaliatory solitary confinement. Former isolated hunger striker “convicted” in a hearing; the twenty men placed insolitary confinement for hunger strike grows. Despite retaliation, peaceful protest continues. Read more

Apr

Victory: 20 Detainees Released from Solitary Confinement Following Lawsuit, Community Prepares to Rally

Tags: hunger strike, northwest detention center, tacoma

Comments: No

Tacoma, WA—This morning, 20 detainees being held in solitary confinement at the Northwest Detention Center in retaliation for engaging in a hunger strike were released from segregation, due to the pressure of litigation. The released detainees include 25-day hunger striker Jesus Gaspar Navarro, who had been placed in solitary confinement following a stay in medical isolation after ending his historic strike. The ACLU of Washington and Columbia Legal Services had filed a temporary restraining order and injunction on behalf of these individuals, seeking a court order to halt the ongoing retaliation against detainees engaged in the hunger strike and related activities. Those released are happy to be out of isolation.

The individuals released had been in solitary confinement since March 27, when United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers implied that detainees could meet with an assistant warden to discuss their reasons for being on hunger strike. Instead, these detainees were handcuffed as soon as they left their unit and were immediately placed in administrative segregation for 23 hours a day, with no human contact, access to a telephone, television, or written materials. None of these individuals were told from the outset why they were placed in solitary confinement. We refer you to the ACLU for details related to the lawsuit. Read more

Apr

JOE CORLEY DETENTION CENTER BLACK OUT: DETAINED IMMIGRANTS UNITE, REFUSE FOOD AND LABOR

Tags: hunger strike, joe corley detention center, texas

Comments: No

WHAT: Vigil Supporting Detained Immigrants Refusing Food and Labor Inside Joe Corley
WHEN: Friday, April 4th, 7 PM
WHERE: Joe Corley Detention Facility, 500 Hilbig Rd, Conroe, TX, 77301

To kick off the National Day of Action to Stop Deportations, on the 19th day of hunger strike, all men detained at Joe Corley Detention Facility will join a 24-hour hunger and labor strike.

Inspired by the hunger strikers within the facility over the last 3 weeks, hundreds of men inside will join the strike. Although Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used such extreme retaliation tactics as putting the strikers in solitary confinement, blocking communication with family members, and deporting several hunger strikers such as Manuel Martinez-Arambula yesterday, the men within Joe Corley remain resilient. Read more

Apr

Texas Hunger Strike Leader Deported on His Birthday

Tags: hunger strike, joe corley detention center, texas

Comments: No

Yesterday I got a call from Manuel Martinez-Arambula, one of the leaders of the hunger strike inside the Joe Corley Detention center, from Mexico. Without his family’s or his community’s knowledge, he had been deported in the middle of the night, as retaliation for his leadership in the hunger strike. That night was also Manuel’s 50th birthday.

While Manuel was being forced into a deportation van, immigration officers lied to us, and told us he was only being moved to another detention center.

Manuel had spent his life in the U.S., having lived here since he was 8 years old. His wife is a legal permanent resident and he has a 13 year old daughter who is a US citizen. He is a civil rights leader who had been on hunger strike for 10 days, protesting the conditions inside the detention center. He is one more of over a dozen organizers who have already been deported. Read more

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