By Crescenzo Vellucci
Vanguard Bureau Chief
OAKLAND, CA – More than 100 people from more than 30 faith groups said they began a mass hunger strike here this week in solidarity with 84 detained immigrants at the Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex in Bakersfield and McFarland, who didn’t eat for more than a month to protest “dehumanizing and unjust conditions of immigration detention.”
“Fasting will take place during the week of April 2-8 when numerous sacred holy days are converging including Ramadan, Passover, Easter, Qing Ming and Buddha’s birthday,” said supporters in a statement, noting they’ll hold a prayer service Tuesday in front of the San Francisco ICE office to “amplify the demands for release and closure of the facilities.”
They painted a picture of cruel treatment of the immigrant detainees during the hunger strike that began Feb. 17.
Supporters—who are demanding the immediate release of those held in the centers and immediate closure of the ICE facilities—said “severe retaliation and medical concerns” led to an end to the hunger strike.
The California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) charged four of the hunger-striking men, after the first three weeks, were suddenly transferred from the Central Valley facilities to El Paso, TX.
“It’s evident that ICE operates as a rogue agency and does whatever they want,” said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, spokesperson for the CCIJ, which represents Pedro Figueroa, one of the four men who were transferred. “If they were really concerned about our client’s safety, they would have paid attention and listened to his grievances.”
Rev. Deborah Lee of Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity said, “During this sacred season for many of the world religions, we come together for this week of fasting to show our support and solidarity with the hunger strikers inside Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex immigrant detention centers.
“Our spiritual values affirm that every person is sacred, and calls for compassion, welcome and liberation for immigrants and those behind bars. Closing detention centers is essential to creating a more just and humane immigration system,” Lee added.
The advocates noted, “Last week at least 38 people died and dozens more were injured at an Immigration Detention Center along the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez. This preventable tragedy and the disregard for the human rights of migrants seeking asylum and protection speaks to the systemic dangers of immigration detention. Closing detention centers is essential to creating a more just and humane immigration system.”
“Fairness, freedom and opportunity should be at the core of our immigration system, but our current system isn’t set up to uphold these values. Instead, the Federal Government systematically deprives people of their liberty, separates them from their loved ones, and often puts lives at risk in ICE detention,” said the statement issued by the multifaith groups.
They added, “The current system of detention didn’t exist just a few decades ago and is inhumane and unnecessary: people can navigate immigration proceedings while living with their families or in the community without the trauma of immigration detention.”
According to a report last month by KQED, one of the men transferred to El Paso told advocates he was shocked and profoundly demoralized by what he called inhumane treatment.
“They dragged [one of us] out of the cell. What are we? If we’re not human beings, then what are we to them?” said the man, who declined to be identified out of fear of further retaliation. “If there’s a law that protects us to do a peaceful protest, where is that law now? I’ve never experienced anything like that. I had never been touched like that, treated like that.”
KQED reported California Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San José), “who have called on ICE to investigate conditions at the Mesa Verde facility and the nearby Golden State Annex, asked the agency for information about the transfers but had not received a response.”
Lofgren told media outlets she wants “ICE to conduct a case-by-case review of each of the hunger strikers’ requests to be released while their cases proceed through immigration court.”
“Honestly, if somebody goes on a hunger strike, it’s not for a frivolous reason,” she told KQED. “To refuse all food — people don’t do that for no reason. And so I take this very seriously, and I hope that the department will take it more seriously than they have so far.”
ICE did not respond to KQED’s questions about the transferred men or the other hunger strikers at the two facilities.
KQED said the hunger strike by 84 immigrants held at the two detention centers, owned and operated by the private-prison company The GEO Group, marked “an escalation of a 10-month-long labor strike in protest over $1-per-day pay for the janitorial work done by detainees.
“Strikers say they are also protesting poor conditions — including claims of black mold, spoiled food, sexually abusive pat-downs and the use of solitary confinement as retaliation — and are asking to be released,” said KQED.
The solidarity hunger fast includes participation from: Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, All Soul’s Episcopal Parish – Berkeley, Buddhist Church of San Francisco, Buena Vista United Methodist Church – Alameda, California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, Centro Legal de la Raza, Congregation Beth El – Berkeley, Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Faith in Action East Bay, First Congregational Church of Oakland, iNation Media, Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Kehilla Community Synagogue – Piedmont, Lakeshore Ave Baptist Church – Oakland, Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, Masters of Migration Studies Student Club – University of San Francisco, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Or Shalom Jewish Community – San Francisco, Pine United Methodist Church – San Francisco, Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges, Presbyterian Church in Chinatown – San Francisco, Seminary of the Street, Sisters of Mercy Solidarity Committee, St. Columba Catholic Church – Oakland, St. James A.M.E. Church – San Mateo, St James Cathedral – Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church-Ridgecrest, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Bakersfield, Unitarian Universalist San Luis Obispo, United Church of Christ – Cleveland, 5C Vietnamese Student Association – Claremont.
