FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 September 2020
Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
Immigrant Rights Organizations File Lawsuit to Restore Etowah Visitation Project
Retaliation by Etowah County Sheriff's Office is a direct violation of local community members’ freedom of speech
Gadsen, AL — Freedom for Immigrants and the Etowah Visitation Project filed a lawsuit today demanding an end to blatant violations of free speech and the full restoration of the visitation program. The lawsuit was filed in response to years of retaliation by the Sheriff’s Office against visitor volunteers, people in ICE detention at the Etowah County Jail, and activists for speaking out about the abuses and torturous conditions inside the facility.
In November 2019, the Sheriff’s Office suspended EVP within two days of a peaceful protest outside the facility. Freedom for Immigrants filed a cease and desist letter, and over 100 people detained at the jail penned a powerful letter calling for reinstatement.
“Our visitor volunteers have provided critical support to detained immigrants in the Etowah County Jail since 2013,” said Katherine Weathers, coordinator of the Etowah Visitation Project (EVP). “We affirm and place the highest value on the rights of visitors to participate in democracy through the free exercise of speech and peaceful protests guaranteed under the US Constitution.”
“The first seven years I was detained at Etowah were difficult,”said Sylvester Owino, a Leadership Council member of Freedom for Immigrants and owner of Rafikiz Foodz. “There was no hope and limited communication with the outside world. When the visitation program started, things really started changing and I gained a lot of hope. The visitation program became like family to me. I don't know how much more grateful and fortunate I can be to have been connected with them.”
“Once again, the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office is trying to make visitor volunteers choose between their First Amendment rights and supporting people in immigration detention. We have said it before and we will say it again: This is not a choice the government can legally ask them to make,” said Christina Fialho, an attorney and the co-founder/executive director of Freedom for Immigrants.
“Sheriff Horton's attempts to undermine the rights of grassroots organizers and concerned community members are becoming increasingly bold and aggressive, from the cancelation of EVP in his first year to underhandedly asking city officials for their support in targeting attendees at BLM marches this summer,” stated Lisa Moyer, an organizer with Shut Down Etowah. “As proof of these injustices inside and outside, and as COVID continues to put lives at risk, we are reminded of how vital regular interactions with people caged inside are to support the rights and wellbeing of those in Horton’s jail.”
This is not the first time the Sheriff’s Office has retaliated against EVP volunteers. In 2015, they suspended the visitation program following a peaceful protest and complaint filed by Freedom for Immigrants documenting widespread physical abuse inside the jail. The visitation program was eventually reinstated, only after further protests and a demand letter ensued.
While EVP remains suspended, COVID-19 rages behind the bars of Etowah County Jail; at least 22 people in ICE detention have tested positive for the deadly virus inside the jail.
Freedom for Immigrants and the Etowah Visitation Project are represented pro bono by Phillip Babich and Tessa R. Lessner of Reed Smith LLP and Jessica Myers Vosburgh of Adelante Alabama Worker Center.
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Freedom for Immigrants is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. We monitor the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while also modeling a community-based alternative to detention that welcomes immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Through these windows into the system, we gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push systemic change. Visit www.freedomforimmigrants.org and follow @MigrantFreedom.
The Etowah Visitation Project is a member group of Freedom for Immigrants. Through visits and/or letters, the Project connects with immigrants who are being detained in the Etowah County Detention Center while they await immigration hearings or deportations. Our objective is to be there as friends and listeners. Open to people of all religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, we bear witness to the suffering and to the enormous strength and resilience of character that individuals in ICE detention possess. Join us at www.facebook.com/TheEtowahCountyDetentionProject.
The Shut Down Etowah campaign is made up of individuals and civil, immigrant, and human rights organizations based in Alabama and across the country that are committed to ending the human rights abuses at the Etowah County Detention Center. We believe Etowah is far too broken to be fixed—the only adequate solution is to close it. To learn more and get involved visit www.shutdownetowah.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @shutdownetowah.