Street roots., May 12, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

S tr e e t R o o ts • M ay 1 2 -18 , 2 0 1 7
News
Page 7
ICE, from page 5
'T 'h e hunger strike at NORCOR lasted only
X a few days before concessions were
made, including providing a microwave and
a radio, access to group sessions, and to
work, which is the only way an inmate can
make money inside to cover common costs,
such as charges to make phone calls. In the
meantime, family and advocates in the
community have been putting money into
the detainees’ accounts.
Jessica Campbell with the Rural
*
Organizing Project said that the detainees
inside NORCOR have asked to remain
anonymous to prevent any retaliation.
“We are not releasing any information
that could identify the detainees, and
retaliation is a huge part of the issue, and
that s actually one of the demands coming
out of Tacoma: no retaliation for them
hunger striking,” Campbell said. “There has
been retaliation of putting people in solitary,
of putting people into NORCOR, or
transferring people away from their lawyers
and their families. It’s a major, major
concern.”
As an attorney, dos Santos has been
speaking regularly with the detainees inside
the jail. They described the conditions to
him and their requests. The facility is
windowless, and the outdoor space is
surrounded by solid walls with a mesh
covering an open roof. One said he had been
in NORCOR for more than a year, dos
Santos said.
“These are people who had at some point
some interaction with the criminal justice
system, but left me thinking they’re actually
incredibly good people,” dos Santos said.
“And to be clear - they’ve served their
actual criminal time. They’re all being held
in there for administrative immigration
reasons - civil reasons.”
dos Santos also said that the process of
transferring and deporting individuals is
often beyond the reach of family members.
People have been deported with their
families only being notified once the person
calls from the other country, he said.
“This is an opaque system that literally
disappears people and you can’t find them,”
dos Santos said. “It’s one thing to be an
D
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K H U I U BY J O A N N E Z U H
R osannaSchneider with Gorge IC E Resistance speaks to the crowd outside the NORCOR ja il
m he Dalles. About 150 people rallied there on May 6 in solidarity with detainees inside
awaiting deportation, and to call fo r an end to NO RCO R’s contract with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement to incarcerate detainees in the jail.
attorney to try to advocate on behalf of
these people, but imagine if this was your
son or your husband or your wife? Not being
able to get a hold of your family, not
knowing where they were - whether they’re
in Oregon, Washington or North Carolina?”
Fiahlo calls ICE an untrustworthy partner
for municipalities.
“ICE is an unaccountable agency that
engages in deceptive and coercive practices,
both in its dealings with immigrants and
with the greater public,” Fiahlo said. “For
example, there are frequent accounts of
people being coerced into signing away their
rights to see an immigration judge and fight
their immigration case, without even
realizing that these rights exist. Moreover,
CIVIC’s investigations into sexual assault in
immigration detention and medical care
show that the immigration detention system
itself is inhumane.”
In April, CIVIC filed a federal complaint
with Department of Homeland Security’s
Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties,
calling for an investigation into the reports
of sexual abuse, assaults and harassment
inside immigration detention facilities.
And there’s a larger impact on the
community, Fiahlo said.
“Contracting with ICE to detain people
erodes public trust and credibility in local
authorities,” Fiahlo said. “If local authorities
are seen as agents of ICE, people are less
likely to report crime or to serve as
witnesses. This applies not only to people
with immigration issues but also to U.S.
citizens who may have undocumented family
members or other reasons to fear becoming
an ICE target.”
Sandra Hernandez is with Latinos Unidos
Siempre, which works to educate and
empower Latino youth for social change.
She came up from Salem to join the protest.
With Latinos Unidos Siempre, Hernandez
works with youths - the vast majority of
them immigrants - whose lives have been
thrown into chaos by aggressive immigration
policies.
“In my work with our youth, there’s a lot
of trauma and toxic stress,” Hernandez said.
“When there’s someone in your family going
through the system just simply because
they’re an immigrant, you have a family
worried about what’s going on with that
person. They’re not worried about their
health, they’re not worried about their
education, because there’s no time to worry
about that. It affects people from their
physical to their mental health,” she said.
“When we talk about ICE, it’s not just
someone incarcerated,” Hernandez said. “It
spreads to the whole family, and everyone
worries about what’s going to happen. It’s
like limbo - there is no moving forward;
there is no going back. Sometimes they
don’t know what’s going on with the person
until months later.”
Hernandez said the children have seen
their parents preparing for emergencies
should they be deported, talking about who
will get their home and where the children
will stay.
“That process is really traumatizing for
the youth,” she said. “I’ve had youth come
to me and say they’re really scared because
they see their parents signing all this
paperwork and they don’t know what’s going
to happen to them. They’re preparing for
the worst. If you’ve never experienced that,
it’s hard to understand what it’s like.”
Rosanna Schneider with Gorge ICE
Resistance said the ICE involvement in her
community is deeply upsetting.
“It is definitely heartbreaking to know
that my tax dollars as a property owner and
as a general citizen in this city, in this
county and this state, are g oing to th e s e
things,” Schneider said. “It is really vital
that we inform people and have access to
these decisions, and to remind them that
there are people at the end of this. You may
have opinions about immigration, about
what you’re paying for, what you’re not
paying for, what they deserve, what they
don’t deserve. Whether they deserve to
starve. But at the end of it, they’re just
people.”
joanne@streetroots. org
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