Media Contacts: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org; Melissa Tavares, melissa@floridaimmigrant.org; Maria Bilbao, maria@unitedwedream.org; Wendy King, info@fomdd.org; Jeff Migliozzi, jeff.migliozzi@splcenter.org, Gaby Guadalupe, media@aclufl.org
Media Advisory: Testimonies Against ICE Cruelty - A Conversation with Florida Representatives
Tuesday, August 25, 2020, 6:00 PM EST
MIAMI, FLORIDA — Following two recent COVID-19 related deaths in South Florida ICE prisons, a coalition of immigrant rights organizations will hold a Congressional roundtable on COVID-19 in South Florida’s ICE prisons. Loved ones of persons currently detained will also join the roundtable, including family members of Onoval Perez Montufar, a 51-year-old man who died of COVID-19 complications after being detained in ICE custody at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida
Despite the public perception of South Florida as a welcoming home to immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America, the area is home to three ICE prisons that jail thousands of community members. People detained in South Florida’s ICE prisons are subjected to abusive and dehumanizing conditions on a daily basis including: lack of hygienic supplies, medical neglect, retaliation for participating in hunger strikes, routine use of solitary confinement, and use of force.
Given the tragic deaths of both Onoval Perez Montufar and Kuan Hui Lee, members of Congress must act immediately to save lives and end this public health crisis.
WHO: Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL), State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), State Rep. Cindy Polo (D-Miramar), and State Rep. Evan Jenne (D-Dania Beach), State Rep. (D-Miami) Dotie Joseph.
WHAT: Virtual roundtable conversation.
WHERE: Live on United We Dream’s Facebook page. To RSVP email rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org.
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