FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@freedomforimmigrants.org
NEW ORLEANS – The Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition announced a nationwide Day of Action (12 hours) in response to the continued premature and avoidable deaths of community members held in immigration cages. Events will take place July 22-24.
Recent deaths include: Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in June, eight-year-old Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody in May, and Salvador Vargas in ICE detention in April. During the Day of Action, families, communities and advocates will demand justice and accountability from the Biden administration, which continues to break its promise to roll back federal contracts with private prison companies. Abusive and deadly examples of private prison facilities contracted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for ICE include:
Stewart Detention Center, where Vargas died, is one of the largest and deadliest ICE detention centers in the country run by CoreCivic in Lumpkin, Georgia.
Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where Rocha-Cuadra was subjected to tortuous lengths of solitary confinement, is a GEO Group-run facility in Jena, Louisiana, which was previously operated as a juvenile prison by the same company (under the name Wackenhut Corp.). In 2000, GEO Group was forced to close the facility after the U.S. Department of Justice exposed widespread abuses, including numerous sexual assaults, prolonged solitary confinement in life-threatening conditions and excessive use of force.
Winn Correctional Center, where communities continue to decry ‘horrific’ conditions, is a LaSalle Corrections-run facility in Winnfield, Louisiana that DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties recommended be emptied until its conditions improved.
Elizabeth Detention Center is a CoreCivic-run facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where in 2007, 52-year-old Guinean father and tailor, Boubacar Bah, was detained before he died. Records later revealed that Bah suffered a skull fracture at the facility and was left in an isolation cell without treatment for more than 13 hours before an ambulance was called. Yet, this week the Biden administration indicated it will support CoreCivic in its ongoing lawsuit to keep the facility open in contradiction to widely-supported legislation to end private prison contracts in the state.
WHO: Southeast Dignity Not Detention (SDND) Coalition and Community Partners.
The SDND Coalition is a group of immigrants, children of immigrants, advocates, organizers, legal workers, justice seekers and community members who share resources, organize and take action together to end the caging and surveilling of people in the southeastern region of the U.S. This includes seeking the permanent closure of all immigration detention centers run by private prison companies and localities under the authority of the New Orleans ICE Field Office
WHAT: 12 Hours of Action — learn more here
WHEN: July 22-24 event list here
WHERE: Virtual and in the following cities (events listed in chronological order):
Miami, Florida
July 22, Vigil at 11:00 a.m. CST, outside Krome Detention Center: 18201 SW 12th St, Miami, FL
New Orleans, Louisiana
July 23 Vigil, 7:30 p.m. CST, outside Louis Armstrong Park, Rampart St & Dumaine St, New Orleans, LA
July 24 Protest, 7:30 a.m. CST at NOLA ICE: 1250 Poydras St., New Orleans, LA
San Antonio, Texas
July 23 Vigil at 7:30 p.m. CST, Main Plaza, 115 N Main Ave, San Antonio, TX
Shreveport, Louisiana
July 23 Vigil @ 7:30 p.m. CST at Caddo Parish Courthouse, 501 Texas St, Shreveport, LA
Washington, D.C.
July 23 Vigil, 7:30 p.m. EST at Lafayette Square: H St NW &, 16th St NW, Washington, DC
Elizabeth, New Jersey
July 23 Vigil, 7:30 p.m. EST at Elizabeth Detention: 625 Evans St, Elizabeth, NJ
July 24 Protest, 12:00 p.m. EST at County Courthouse: 2 Broad Street, Elizabeth NJ
Atlanta, Georgia
July 24 Rally, 11 a.m. EST at Atlanta ICE: 180 Ted Turner Dr SW, Atlanta, GA
Lafayette, Louisiana
July 24 Vigil at 7:30 p.m. CST, Rosa Parks Transportation Center, 100 Lee Ave, LA
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Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) is a non-profit which provides direct legal representation to detained individuals throughout the Gulf South and advocates for just and humane immigration policy.
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (LaAID) is a volunteer state-wide organization that assists immigrants in the 8 Louisiana detention centers and 1 Mississippi detention center in Natchez. LaAID Volunteers provide transportation, meals, and overnight hosting for released immigrants as they travel to their family/sponsor. LaAID also visits people in detention and advocates for humane treatment and medical care within detention.
Home is Here (HIH) is a grassroots nonprofit with a mission to cultivate community-based systems of support with newly arrived immigrants in the Gulf South. By bridging relationships and developing equitable community resources and power among existing community members and newly arrived immigrants, we build belonging and networks of solidarity that support everyone's survival and healing in an increasingly interdependent world.
Community EsTr(El/La) is an Atlanta-based organization that advocates for Indigenous Latin American communities, including Trans and Queer Immigrants, through direct support, advocacy, and culturalization in various spheres of daily life. Guided by the principle that movements for social change must be led by directly impacted people, our movement strategy focuses on building community and empowering future leaders, including undocumented and formerly incarcerated leaders.
Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. FFI monitors the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while promoting community-based services that welcome immigrants into the social fabric of the United States.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (AAAJ-Atlanta) is the first nonprofit legal advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities in Georgia and the Southeast. We work to promote equity, justice, and self-determination for all immigrant communities.
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States. Founded in 1997 by immigrant rights groups, DWN brings together advocates to unify strategy and build partnerships on a local and national level. For more information, visitdetentionwatchnetwork.org
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.