Extreme overcrowding and abuse plague Florida ICE facilities, whistleblowers say
Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.
This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
To view and share this email as a webpage, click here
_
Breaking: As we were finalizing this week’s newsletter, news broke that ICE agents in New York City shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck in a violent traffic stop in a neighborhood crowded with civilians and while Belgal was in the car with his 5-year-old son. This horrific story is still developing, and we will have more about it next week.
_
CA Governor signs anti ICE bills into law, while Feds ramp up raids across the state
As clergy and lay people walked part or all of 96.5 miles to bring attention to the dangerous conditions in the Adelanto ICE detention center this week and last, many immigration related stories broke in CA. Here’s a short summary:
An independent investigation has ruled that Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, who died inside the Adelanto ICE detention center earlier this year was a preventable death and medical attendants and staff at the notorious prison failed to save his life by failing to give him medical attention in a timely manner.
CA governor Gavin Newsom signed eight new immigration related bills into law, including banning the electric shock gloves ICE plans to buy, as well as explicitly allowing people to file civil lawsuits against federal agents who violate their rights, a bill of rights for people held in ICE prison, and a right for state agencies to investigate the conditions inside ICE detention centers, among others. Perhaps most importantly, multiple laws empower the state to investigate the conditions inside ICE detention centers.
Local LA journalists are reporting that increased ICE raids will be happening starting at the southern most point of the state in San Diego and working north toward San Francisco. There have already been reports of more ICE sightings in LA county. For more info, stay tuned and follow accounts like LA Taco.
_
DHS Buys Fifth Private Detention Site Since July
GEO recently sold three immigration detention facilities in Adelanto, California, to the federal government for $950 million. GEO expects to net about $705 million after federal and state taxes and fees. The company plans to use that infusion of cash for stock buybacks (to strengthen GEO’s stock value for a smaller pool of stockholders) and other business needs.
CoreCivic is selling detention facilities to DHS for just over $1 billion in San Diego and in Kern County. Other sales in Minnesota and Kansas will garner the company a total of $734 million.
Both GEO and CoreCivic will continue to manage and provide support services to the detention facilities that have been sold.
Back in August, Time Magazine asked why DHS was suddenly buying up these prisons from private contractors. The main reasons given then were space issues and an “unprecedented” level of scrutiny leading these private, for-profit companies to want to offload risk onto the federal government. The talking points involved keep bringing up the Supremacy Clause, but not in a way that makes it seem like anyone involved has read the Constitution.
When you’re kidnapping people and killing them on the streets, it seems like almost any level of scrutiny would be fairly “precedented.” And it’s hard not to notice that the current federal regime is using billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize GEO and CoreCivic’s shareholders. Their PR teams can mutter about the Sixth Amendment all they want, this is clearly just a shell game of greed with millions of actual human lives hanging in the balance.
_
Extreme overcrowding and abuse plague Florida ICE facilities, whistleblowers say
Overcrowding and abuse are regularly reported in ICE facilities across the country, but officials have maintained a stone wall of denial, including denying admission to local inspectors and national politicians. Witnesses have reported ICE moving detainees out of facilities before their numbers can be counted accurately, and have reported inhumane conditions no matter where detainees are taken.
This time the reports come from DHS insiders, and have reached the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Democratic members of the committee have published photos taken by whistleblowers and are pushing for reforms and inspections. Despite these truths being supported by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security’s own reporting, republicans on the committee - and the House in general - continue to evade their oversight responsibilities.
ACTION: If you live in the district represented by one of these members, call them and let them know exactly how you feel about their actions, or inactions. Find your Representative (by zip code) on their official site.
_
US judge rules Wisconsin mosque leader Salah Sarsour can be deported
Last week, an immigration judge ruled Palestinian American activist Salah Sarsour legally deportable. While dropping the incendiary and false charges that Sarsour lied on his immigration paperwork and voted illegally, the judge, citing “extreme deference” to the Trump administration, found that Sarsour represents a threat to US foreign policy efforts “to combat antisemitism around the world.”
Originating in McCarthyist repression, this aspect of immigration policy, also used against Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Madawi, was designed in the 1950s to allow the government to deport agents of foreign governments, not local organizers. The president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Sarsour has long worked for justice in his homeland, often in coalition with local Jewish groups who have found in him a friend, not an antisemite.
Lawyers for Sarsour plan an appeal to the Bureau of Immigration. The judge in Sarsour’s case, Jayme Salinari, announced immediately after his finding that he would take a lush retirement package that requires federal scrutiny.
Sarsour will continue to pursue his case in federal court, arguing, like Khalil, that his arrest, detention, and possible deportation violate his civil rights. As a teenager, Sarsour was detained and tortured in Israeli jails, marking three periods of incarceration in his life. Undeterred, he vows to continue the fight, for his own liberation and that of Palestine.
Support the struggle for justice for Sarsour by donating to the Salah Sarsour Justice Fund.
_
A Growing Movement Is Working to Evict ICE From Its Buffalo Command Center
Buffalo, New York’s Evict ICE campaign is an excellent example of local organizing utilizing research, power-mapping, and alliance-building among activist groups. Over 60 groups have joined the campaign so far. Truthout reports, “For years, ICE’s Buffalo field office has lived inside the Delaware North Building. Now, an escalating campaign, Evict ICE from 250 Delaware, is determined to pressure the building’s corporate owners — Uniland Development, owned by the Montantes, a prominent Buffalo area family — and its flagship renter — the Delaware North corporation, owned by the billionaire Jacobs family — to cut ties with ICE when its current lease expires on March 31, 2027.”
The campaign is strategic in its attempt to drive a wedge between ICE and its local corporate enablers, using public pressure to attempt to shame the billionaires agreeing to rent to ICE into cutting the rogue agency’s lease. Recent escalations have included a rally which renamed the 250 North building the “Montante Detention Center” to more accurately describe what goes on there. 8 activists were arrested for disorderly conduct as a result of blocking traffic in the intersection in front of the building. The movement seems to only be gaining momentum.
_
ACTION ITEM:
People in MA can participate in a direct action to pressure Hanscom to stop hosting deportation flights: https://deicehanscom.org/
–
Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
_
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.