(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Immigrant hunger strikers are pausing protest after officials promise to make changes [1]
['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-02-07
Despite the nonviolent demonstration at NWIPC, La Resistencia told KUOW that a number of participants where thrown into solitary confinement, which is torture. Then, The Seattle Times reported a shocking incident this week where guards launched chemical agents against a number of detainees over illegal contraband that was allegedly found in a unit, an ICE spokesperson claimed.
“Maru Mora Villalpando, of the group La Resistencia, which closely follows conditions at the detention center, said Wednesday’s confrontation marked the first time she’s heard of chemical agents being used at the facility, though there have been reports of tear gas used at other immigrant detention centers,” The Seattle Times continued.
But chemical attacks against migrants in ICE custody have indeed been confirmed by government investigators and other reporting. When people at CoreCivic’s La Palma Correctional Center in Arizona peacefully protested conditions amid COVID-19 outbreaks at their facility, guards deployed chemical agents against them, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in March 2021.
In surveillance photos released by investigators, a dozen officers in riot gear could be seen surrounding a small group of men crouching for cover on the floor. In fact, there was a major increase in force against detained migrants following the onset of the pandemic, including use of pepper spray and pepper balls, resulting in one man temporarily losing sight in one eye following a violent incident at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility in California. He was later deported, BuzzFeed News said.
x “Figure 2. LPCC staff firing pepper spray and chemical agents at detainees in an LPCC housing area on April 13, 2020.
Source: Video surveillance footage” pic.twitter.com/CTkGKiYmUk — Hamed Aleaziz (@Haleaziz) April 1, 2021
Detained immigrants at NWIPC want to see a number of changes in addition to improved medical care, including sufficient clothing and bedding, elimination of black mold, access to clean water, and access to soap and towels. These are not luxuries—they’re a matter of basic human dignity.
Yet in another example of abuses within immigration detention, GEO Group and ICE endangered the lives of migrants by misusing a toxic chemical used to clean surfaces at the NWIPC facility. The Environmental Protection Agency said in a 2021 letter that the private prison profiteer was “in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for using a pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling,” noting that numerous detainees “have complained of sore throats and headaches.” Since then GEO Group has been fined more than $100,000 over violations at a California facility.
"They treat us badly, they don’t clean, and the other day they pepper sprayed a bunch of us, including sick people," one detainee in Washington told La Resistencia, KUOW said. "They don’t care about us and it isn’t right. What they’re saying in the news are lies. Nobody was resisting them, we are just trying to be peaceful.”
RELATED STORIES:
GEO Group violated minimum wage laws by paying detained immigrants $1 a day for work
ICE and private prison company GEO Group continue to endanger immigrants through use of pesticides
ICE confirms asylum-seekers on hunger strike over abusive conditions are being force-fed
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/7/2151622/-Immigrant-hunger-strikers-are-stopping-protest-for-now-after-officials-promise-to-make-changes
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
