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Vol. 81/No. 18 May 8, 2017
Jailed immigrants’ hunger strike won support
in Washington
BY CLAY DENNISON
TACOMA, Wash. — “Here they treat us worse than a prison. It’s supposed
to be just detention for immigration, but it’s a prison,” said Cristian
Lopez, speaking by phone from inside the Northwest Detention Center
April 10 to a crowd of supporters outside the gates of the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement prison. More than 100 prisoners began a two-week
hunger strike that would grow to 750 by midweek and is now over.
The prison is owned and operated by the international GEO Group, the
second biggest private-prison outfit in the U.S. The facility is one of
the largest immigration prisons in the country.
“I am leaving already,” Lopez, who faces deportation, said. “I do this
for my people and for the people that are still going to be here, be
they dark skinned, light skinned or Hispanic, be they what they may.
There is no other way for us, we are here supporting each other.”
A group called NWDC Resistance set up an encampment outside the prison
during the hunger strike.
The detention center has an official capacity of 1,575, but prisoners
who work in the kitchen say there are closer to 1,700 currently detained
there, Maru Mora Villalpando, a leader of the group, told the Militant.
The prisoners say that’s how many meals they prepare.
“When prisoners complained that the food was limited to little but rice
and beans and that portions were being cut,” Mora said, “GEO authorities
told them, ‘there are too many of you.’”
Striking prisoners are demanding more and better food, lower prices in
the commissary, a raise in wages for work to more than $1 a day, and
improved conditions.
Another important demand is that GEO stop placing obstacles in the way
of prisoners’ legal efforts to fight against being deported. Access to
the center’s law library is limited, as is access to the printer.
Temporary transfers to the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Center
in The Dalles, Oregon, are a big problem. “When you check out from the
facility, GEO takes all your history from the computer,” Oscar Escobar
said. When you come back, “you have to start over from zero.”
Mora said that in order to spread the word among the segregated units of
the prison, male detainees asked her to talk about the hunger strike on
the radio. “That‘s how the women found out about it,” she said. “Then
they contacted us to say that some of them were joining the strike.”
Some prisoners told protesters camped outside that ICE had promised to
make some of the changes they’re demanding. “We want to make sure that
whatever ICE promises them is followed through on,” Mora said.
Related articles:
Socialist Workers Party: Amnesty for immigrants!
All out for May 1 protests! No deportations!
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