FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org, 786-897-4080
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — This week, two Cuban asylum seekers detained at the Otero County Processing Center (OCPC) slit their wrists and at least 19 others are planning on doing so in an act of mass resistance. Conditions and rights violations at OCPC have become so untenable that many view this drastic step as their only option to bring about change. The two men are in medical care, others have been placed in solitary confinement, and the situation is escalating.
Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID) in the Chihuahuan Desert, a member of Freedom for Immigrants’ visitation network who meet with people detained to monitor human rights in the facility, has penned two separate letters to members of the New Mexico’s congressional delegation, urging them to: 1.) visit those who are protesting 2.) call for their immediate release and 3.) initiate a comprehensive investigation of the facility.
“The concern here is not false alarmism; at OCPC, a real tragedy is not just looming but already unfolding,” wrote Margaret Brown Vega and Nathan Craig, volunteers with AVID in the Chihuahuan Desert, in the congressional letter. “If the situation is not quickly resolved, more men will slit their wrists and large numbers of others will go on hunger strike.”
Asylum seekers are being pushed to take this drastic measure by our broken U.S. immigration system. The Trump administration is waging attacks on the U.S. asylum system by systematically denying asylum seekers lawful avenues for release via bond and parole. In August 2018, a federal judge found that the Department of Homeland Security was in violation of its policy that asylum seekers be released on humanitarian parole while their cases work through the court system.
Despite rulings, ICE continues to deny asylum seekers their right to release, subjecting them to indefinite detention in facilities with long histories of human rights abuses.In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) found that staff at OCPC had engaged in inappropriate conduct and retaliation against detained persons, including inappropriate use of solitary confinement. An independent investigation in 2018 by AVID and Freedom for Immigrants found disturbing conditions ranging from filthy drinking water to retaliatory use of solitary confinement.
“Congress should inquire into why prolonged detention and arbitrary parole denials continue, despite federal rulings mandating that ICE release asylum seekers on humanitarian grounds and grant individualized parole hearings,” said Sarah Gardiner, Director of Policy at Freedom for Immigrants.
The individuals at OCPC who participated in a hunger strike sit-in on Friday — and are now threatening mass suicide — have been denied release on bond or parole. Some have been inappropriately denied their credible fear interviews, others parole or bond after passing a credible fear interview, and others have seen their asylum claims denied. In all three instances, detained individuals allege bias and due process violations. People detained have shared with local activists that OCPC’s immigration judges make sweeping, blanket statements regarding Cuban asylum seekers, alleging their documents are false and thus a basis for denying asylum across the board. The immigration judges at OCPC grant asylum at rates significantly lower than the national average, a major driving force behind hunger strikes and protests at the facility.
“Taking one's life in protest is an act of resistance we've seen enacted around the world when human rights are abused with full impunity and people cannot count on the government, the law, or justice in any state. That is what we're seeing today. It's deplorable — and terrifying — that our system is so broken men feel they must take their own lives in protest to see justice and change,” said Sofia Casini, Southern Regional Coordinator with Freedom for Immigrants.
This potential mass action by Cuban asylum seekers echoes the story of Ajay Kumar and Gurjant Singh, two asylum seekers from India who began a hunger strike at OCPC that lasted over 70 days. Ajay and Gurjant initiated their hunger strike in response to prolonged detention and due process violations. They were released from ICE custody earlier this month, following sustained pressure from advocates and community-members, to family members and sponsors in the U.S. to pursue their asylum claims free from detention.
The news of potential suicide attempts from Cuban asylum seekers comes the same week as Roylan Hernandez-Diaz, a 43-year-old asylum seeker from Cuba, died of an apparent suicide at the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. As reported in Buzzfeed News, his widow claims he had just begun a hunger strike after passing his credible fear interview, then having his request to be paroled — released to his wife — denied. In September 2019, a federal judge found that the ICE field office in Louisiana has been issuing blanket denials of parole for asylum seekers, in violation of policy. The judge ordered ICE to resume individualized parole hearings, but legal service providers and advocates report that blanket denials continue.