FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2013
Reference: Jill Mangaliman, GABRIELA Seattle, pinayinfo@gmail.com
GABRIELA Seattle stands with the 1,200 detainees taking part in the hunger strikes at the Northwest Detention Center, and urge the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and GEO Corporation to release those being held in solitary confinement, as well as stop any forms of retaliation, such as verbal abuse and force-feeding.
On April 5th, GABRIELA Seattle members joined hundreds of supporters in the rain at the protest outside the Northwest Detention Center organized by the #Not1More campaign. Stories were shared by relatives of those detained and those who were formerly detained. People also wrote letters to those participating in the hunger strike since March 6th, due to exploitative and inhumane conditions within the detention center. Since the S-Comm program began, more than 2,500 Washington state residents have been deported and separated from their families. Under Obama’s administration, 2 million people have been deported, more than any other U.S. presidency.
“People not having papers or trying to better their lives and their families lives are not the problem, it’s this unjust, corrupt system,” said Jill Mangaliman of GABRIELA Seattle, “We demand that ICE and GEO corporation stop profiting from people’s lives. We demand that Obama stop all deportations and close the detention centers.”
Members of GABRIELA Washington DC are also experiencing vulnerable immigration situations due to being trafficked to the United States by Isidro Rodriguez, a recruitment agency owner and recruiter. In mid- March, one of the trafficked teachers, Ethelwolda Paat, was picked up by ICE and taken to Montana for questioning and is now pending a court hearing.
Meanwhile, GABRIELA Seattle members were able to meet with Paat in Spokane: “Isidro Rodriguez promised me a lucrative job in the public schools with a pay of $27 per hour in 2009, only to find out upon my arrival that (it) was an unbelievable fraud. I landed working in daycare centers as a nanny, a babysitter, and a caregiver. Until this date I am suffering from Isidro’s manipulation, deception and injustice.”
Sign the petition on behalf of #Not1More Hunger Strikers and latest releases available at: www.notonemoredeportation.com/2014/03/10/detention-hunger-strike/
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