![]() ![]() For us, it’s not so much anymore about the numbers, but it’s about how ICE has been retaliating. They’re in different pods, they call it, throughout the facility. And each of them would say there is about eight to 12 people that they know that they continue the strike. And yesterday, as a matter of fact, we saw three people leaving the detention center that were released, and the three of them confirmed to us that the strike continues. So, the way they have managed the organizing that happened in the inside is to stop them from communicating to each other. So they also revoked their privilege to watch TV or to listen to the radio. They were trying to supposedly assess them medically, and instead they were being told that the hunger strike had stopped, that they should stop, too, that the hunger strike didn’t work. We know that they started isolating people from day one. They have been very good at making people difficult to communicate amongst each other. ![]() It’s really difficult to assess, due to the retaliation strategies that ICE has imposed. ![]() How many people are still participating, Maru? Welcome to Democracy Now! Give us the latest on the hunger strike. She is an activist and undocumented immigrant with the group Latino Advocacy and part of the #Not1More Deportation campaign organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. We’re not here to be tortured and threatened by these officers.ĪMY GOODMAN: Well, for more on the hunger strike and the wave of protests by immigrants, we go to Seattle, Washington, where we’re joined by Maru Mora Villalpando. Like, we’re here to fight our immigration case and to get back to our families. It’s a cruel way to just grab somebody and put them down and put a tube down their throat. And I’m not an animal, like, I can say that, all of us that are here. HUNGER- STRIKING IMMIGRANT 2: We received threats from the guards saying that they, after 72 hours, we-would be taking our commissary privileges away, that they would-that we were going to go see medical and get tubes down our throats and force-fed. The detainees told Democracy Now! they had faced threats of force-feeding. ![]() And all we ask is just an opportunity to fight for our lives, which is here, since we’ve invested so much time into this great country.ĪMY GOODMAN: Earlier this week, immigration authorities said some of those on hunger strike were under medical evaluation. And as humans, we do make mistakes, but at the same time, it is also in our human nature to learn from those mistakes. I mean, at the end of the day, yes, we are immigrants, but what bonds us more is that we are all human beings. So we felt like, you know, we have to do our part to speak up and say something. HUNGER- STRIKING IMMIGRANT 2: Our main goal was to bring to light the situation with the immigration reform, which is just being talked about, but there’s really no changes happening. We work for four hours, five hours sometimes, for just one dollar. They have us here working for one dollar a day. HUNGER- STRIKING IMMIGRANT 1: So that they give us better food, so that they give us lower prices on what they sell here in the commissary, and so that they stop the deportations, I’m hoping we can get some support from all the people who are listening, because-don’t believe what you hear-life in here is not very easy. Democracy Now! obtained recordings of some of the detained immigrants who participated in the strike and explained their concerns. The privately owned facility used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is owned by the GEO Group. Another action is planned today as part of the #BringThemHome campaign.ĪMY GOODMAN: Much further north, in Tacoma, Washington, a hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center, that started with as many as 750 people, has reportedly entered its sixth day, though it’s unclear how many people are still refusing to eat. It was the third action in two years in which people deported from Mexico tried to return to the United States without legal documents. On Monday, hundreds gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border to support a group of youths seeking re-entry into the United States. Also last week, Janet Murguía, the head of the National Council of La Raza, joined other Latino advocacy groups in calling President Obama the “deporter-in-chief.”įar from Capitol Hill, undocumented immigrants have increased pressure on Obama through acts civil disobedience. This comes after several senators called last week for executive action by Obama to slow, quote, “needless” deportations. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: As the number of immigrants deported under President Obama approaches two million, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus plans to vote today on a resolution asking the president to stem the tide. ![]()
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