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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2018)
July 25, 2018 Page 5 Asylum Seekers C ontinued froM P age 2 gion, and tried to survive on just the vegetables accompanying the meals, Teesdale said. Immigration and Customs En- forcement recently transferred four detainees to a center in Taco- ma, Washington, for specialized medical care, ICE spokeswoman Clarissa Cutrell said. The agency has no comment on the conditions in Sheridan due to pending litigation, Cutrell said. Leland Baxter-Neal, an attor- ney with the American Civil Lib- erties Union of Oregon, called the conditions inhumane and uncon- stitutional. The Trump administration’s decision to put the immigrants in the prison, where they mixed for three weeks with the general pris- on population, has caused “chaos, confusion and massive human suf- fering,” he said. Federal Public Defender Lisa Hay said in a letter to Warden Jo- saias Salazar and Acting ICE Field Office Director Elizabeth Godfrey that her office learned of an appar- ent suicide attempt by a detainee. Other detainees also considered killing themselves, court docu- ments state. Petitions were filed Wednes- day by Hay’s office seeking court hearings for five detainees, whose names were redacted because of their security concerns. “I have to cry in my pillow,” an immigrant identified as ICE detainee No. 1 said in his habe- as corpus brief. “I have suicidal thoughts but then I remember my family. My family is all that keeps me going.” The public affairs office of the Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A statement filed in court shows the prison had to scramble to take in the immigrants, who were sent there because other holding facilities used by ICE were overloaded. The prison received only one day of notice — on May 30 — that about 130 detainees would be ar- riving, Amberly Newman, an ad- viser to the prison warden, said in a declaration in federal court. She said they had to be mixed with the general prison population for the first three weeks before they could be separated into dif- ferent units. One of the detainees described guards making him and his two cellmates strip to their underwear. “In the night, it gets so cold in the cell and when l was in boxers and T-shirt, I was terribly cold,” he said, according to his habeas corpus filing. Victoria Bejarano Muirhead of Innovation Law Lab said her Portland-based group has engaged over 80 volunteers to provide le- gal services to the detainees. Antioch Missionary Baptist Church Presents Youth in Action Bible Study • Worship God • Laugh • Get motivated by His Word • Study God’s role Models You Have Questions…………We Have Answers When: Where: Phone: Every Tuesday @ 5:30p.m. Antioch Missionary Baptist Church 5935 North Minnesota Avenue (503) 289-2364 or (503) 477-7149 Snacks Provided Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! 2 C orinthiAns 5:17 Court Pick Derailed C ontinued froM P age 3 Majority Leader Mitch McCo- nnell pulled the confirmation vote just minutes before it was set to begin. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, who supported Bounds, said the president has also withdrawn the nomination. Bounds earlier had apologized for the controversial writings, saying they showed insensitivity to racial minorities, among other issues, describing them as “poor- ly worded and ill-conceived pro- nouncements of a youth who had much to learn about the world.” Bounds was selected by Presi- dent Trump for a lifetime appoint- ment to the court, He was born in Umatilla, Ore. and raised in nearby Hermiston. He was a member of the conservative Federalist Society. Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, had objected to the nomination and protested his confirmation in speeches on the Senate floor. Nominees usually cannot move forward over the objection of home state senators but this year McConnell and Grassley ignored that tradition. After Bounds’ defeat, Wyden and Merkley said they would be interested in working with Repub- licans to find a new nominee and will consult with a state selection committee which will forward names to the White House. Bounds issued a statement say- ing he was proud to have been nominated and plans to continue in his role as a federal prosecutor. Obituary Homegoing Celebration Ron Webb A memorial service for Ron Webb, sunrise May 20, 1938 and sunset, July 16, 2018, has been scheduled for this Thurs- day, July 26 at 11 a.m. at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, 8501 N. Chautauqua Blvd.