Street roots
June 6, 2014
El dia de la madre, remembering those behind bars
BY BY PAT RUMER
not allowed to enter.
We are outside but we sing out for justice;
s of this writing, today, May 10, is
we hope that our voices, words and
Mother’s Day in Mexico and Central
presence can penetrate the walls so that the
America. I am standing on a smàll
people inside know that we are outside .
piece of land outside the Detention Center
supporting them. There are flowers for the
of ICE in Tacoma, Wash. We are here to
women who arrive to visit a husband or
remember the mothers who are
brother or sister. The visitors carry our
incarcerated in this special jail built for
voices, prayers and speeches inside where
persons without documents.
we cannqt go.
I am here to remember the mothers and
This detention center, is owned by GEO
to be in solidarity with everyone fighting to
Corporation. They earned $115 million from
change the laws of my government that
separate children from their parents. These
incarcerated mothers have to leave their
children with family
Pat Rumer is a
members or neighbors,
or in the worse case,
Portland activist
they are put into foster
on Latin
care. I speak with
American and
another vigil
international
participant, Vicki, who
issues,
tells me that her sister
specifically
was detained two years
involved with
ago for a month. She
immigration
has four children; Vicki
justice.
and others in her family
took care of them. But
they did not understand
why their mother was taken away and they
missed her a great deal. Vicki attends this
vigil each year to remember her sister.
I am also here to resist these laws and
show support for all the people in the
Detention Center. It is not a lot to'give one
day each year to travel to Tacoma and
participate in the Mother’s Day Vigil
organized by the Interfaiith Movement for
their detention center operations nationally.
Immigrant Justice(Portland) and the
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Washington New Sanctuary Movement
agency, la migra, h asa Congressionàl
We chant: Parar los Detenciones - Parar
mandate to detain people without
los Detentaciones - Mantenga las familias
docum ents® the United States. ICE then
Juntas. How many more years will we have
Contracts with GEO and another private?-' gg
to hold this vigil? This is the seventh year
corporation to provide 34,000 beds at a
people have gathered to say loudly. No Mas
daily cost of $119 per person: It’s a lot of
Deportaciones. The crowd of a hundred
money. There is a profit to be made in this
people waves signs saying “Free them Now,” business. This is my tax dollars at work. I
“Stop the Detentions,” “Bring Them Home.” am angry. I don’t want my government to
I came to this, vigil for the first time in
use my money to warehouse people. It is ;
2009.1 was surprised to find the center
not right. It is inhuman.
located in the heart of the industrial area of
We hear testimonyy from women who
Tacoma near the train station. It looks like a
have lost their husbands to deporttion.
big warehouse of a corporation, that makes
They are undocumented as well and cannot
computers, but this warehouse is owned by
find work. One woman shares with us — my
a private corporation that has round the
three-year-old son stopped speaking after his
clock guards and barbed wire fence. We are
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
■
father’s deportation. He is being seen by
speech therapists and the entire family is
receiving some therapy through the schools.
How can we treat people this way?
Towards the end of the program, a
woman pastor leads us in a service of
remembrance for the 60 people who' have
died in detention this past year. She. asks us
to pick UP a small stone by the side of the
railroad tracks, put it in our hands, move
forward silently during the reading of the
names and to place the stones in a circle on
on my phone telling me the news, and I
•began to cry, thinking of all the people I
knew in Guatemala and what this decision
had meant for them.
Are we in the United States really
different than Guatemala? What are our
crimes against humanity? What crimes have
undocumented people committed? Why are
there no laws protecting their right to due
process when they are detained, transported
to Tacoma and then deported to their
country of origin? ?
The female lead singer of the group, Bajo
Salario, shares her story. My church, St.
Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in
Portland, raised the funds for bail for her
husband. Then they helped them get legal
papers so that her husband was not
deported. That is real support - an act of
justice. /
What a struggle it is. Yes, it 4s good to .
save a few lives, one by one, but where is
justice? Where are members of the U. S.
Congress to understand that we are all
human beings and that immigration reform
needs to happen now so that we no longer
treat people like this?
More people have been deported by >
President Obama in the last five years, a
total of 2 million, than during the entire
eight years uf George Bush. We yell and
Chant with the hope that someone hears - .
2Vo more deported persons! No more! No more!
At the end of the vigil we sing in Spanish
the movement song, We shall not be moved.
P H O T O B Y A M N É S T Y IN T E R N A T IO N A L
Unidos en la lucha, no nos moverán
Como un árbol firme junto al rio
; No nos moverán!
the ground. Various people read the names
We walk with paper plates inscribed with
and countries of origin of the people who
messages: We hunger for immigrant justice;
have died.
We thirst for justice for immigrant families.
During the reading of the second group
We tie these plates to the wall surrounding
of names, all four are from Guatemala.
the detentionicenter with the hope that the
Tears inm y eyesrmy body moves forward.
Without thinking I put my stone in the circle detainees will see them. The plates are
simple symbols, but I hope they mean
in memory of Guatemalan brothers whom I
something for the people separated from
do not know but who are compañeros in my
their families and communities.
heart.
When I climb back into the car for the
I think of this country, Guatemala, so
beautiful, so poor. I feel a great sadness that return to Portland, I ask myself, What are
you going to do, Pat? “What can you do? I am
they died so far from home and their
unsure, but I do know that I will join with
families. Suddenly, I realize that on this day
one year ago, Mother’s Day, the Guatemalan other people to speak the truth so that
these crimes against humanity are not
Court found General Rios Montt guilty of
invisible.
crimes against humanity and genocide. My
Nosotros venceremos.
daughter Deborah had left a voice message
\ We shall overcome. .
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