Weeks ago detained immigrant Amar Mergansana died while being held at Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center. Amar was in solitary confinement, on hunger strike, advocating for his rights. He asked repeatedly that GEO Group and ICE give him medical treatment. He was ignored and days later passed away at St. Joesph Medical Center in Tacoma, WA.
Amar’s passing follows a pattern of abuse, violence, callousness and death of detainees in ICE and GEO’s custody. This is the backdrop to today’s newly launched hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center.
Today, up to 40 people began refusing meals on a hunger strike. One detained activist listed the group’s demands as follows:
“I am part of a group of detainees that are going to go on hunger strike as the only way to protest and shine a light on the abuses that we suffer here. We are going on strike because: 1) the abuse of the NWDC Director; 2) The abuse of the guards; 3) The lack of medical attention; 4) the bad food; 5) the salary of a $1 per day; and 6) that they rob our property.”
The need for medical attention is ongoing and urgent. In addition to Amar’s death, there have been outbreaks of the mumps and varicella multiple times in 2018. In stories similar to Amar’s, a detained activist reports that another man was sick without medical care, brought to tears in his cell from pain and vomiting. After that, the activist reports that “I don’t know what happened to him because they took him out of the pod and placed him in solitary [confinement].” Rather than provide adequate medical care to detained immigrants, GEO Group and ICE are placing them in solitary confinement.
Detained hunger-strikers also decry the NWDC director and guards’ overt racism, reporting that they feel threatened. One activist reports that the guards often “act like their fingers are guns and pretend to shoot us.” These small acts carry weight in an immigration prison where guards have the power to confiscate food, clothes and personal belongings.
We mourn Amar’s death and our thoughts are with his family and all families and communities that are impacted by the violence of border imperialism. We want an end to detention and end to deportations. We want freedom of movement for all.
Please join us in supporting hunger strikers.
1) Call on Governor Jay Inslee to visit people detained in his state and hear their concerns first-hand.
Governor Inslee
Phone number: 360.902.4111
Sample call script:
I am calling about the human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. Less than 3 weeks after Russian asylum seeker Amar Mergensana died under the watch of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a new hunger strikes has started at the Detention Center demanding better health care, wages, treatment from guards, and more. I am asking the Governor investigate the conditions of the NWDC as well as Amar’s death. As part of this investigation, Governor Inslee should personally visit his constituents – the people held at the Northwest Detention Center – and hear their claims.
2) Call Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards
Phone number: 253.594.7848
Sample call script:
I am calling about the human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. Less than 3 weeks after Russian asylum seeker Amar Mergensana died under the watch of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a new hunger strikes has started at the Detention Center demanding better health care, wages, treatment from guards, and more. I am asking the Mayor to direct the City of Tacoma to investigate the conditions of the NWDC as well as Amar’s death. I am also asking that the Mayor revoke the GEO Group’s business license to run the detention center. This facility has no place in our community.
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