Atlanta, Georgia - In a display of unity, over 100 people from across the county marched and rallied in downtown Atlanta demanding dignity and respect for communities targeted by racialized enforcement practices across the state, country, and globe. The event, led by Detention Watch Network and local members and partners, demanded the closure of all detention centers including the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Just one week ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported the death of a 44-year-old man in their custody at Stewart. This is the second death in a Georgia detention center this year, marking the twentieth death at the hands of ICE detention since the Biden administration took office.
Currently, ICE incarcerates over 36,600 people in a network of over 200 immigration detention centers across the country. This year, President Biden signed a federal spending bill that increases funding for ICE to maintain an average daily population of 41,500 people in detention, up from 34,000 last year – a shockingly high level not seen since the Trump administration, enough for nearly triple the amount of people detained when Biden first took office. This bill provides the highest appropriations for custody and surveillance operations in ICE’s history despite popular opinion against the system.
Immigrant rights advocates connected their demands to the ongoing struggle to stop the construction of the massive police training facility in Atlanta known as “Cop City” and the global call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Palestinian liberation.
“We cannot ignore the fact that detention plays a large part in the inextricably linked global struggle for liberation. There is no justice in caging people—for any reason. There is not a day that passes, wherein we don not hear of the atrocities of the Prison Industrial Complex, and the stories of the violations in ICE Detention are among the worst. If we want to Stop Cop City and end genocide in Palestine, Sudan, Congo and other places, we must stop the inhumane detention, incarceration and brutalization of people within all facets of the carceral system in the U.S,” said Rev. Keyanna Jones Moore, Co-Pastor, Park Avenue Baptist Church.
Advocates read testimonies from people detained in ICE detention at the agency’s regional office on Ted Turnder Drive:
“My name is Patrick Obiorah. I am a father of three and devoted husband by way of Nigeria. I am 65 years old and have lived in the United States since I was 32 years old. ICE detained me in March at a routine check-in in North Carolina and I am now fighting my deportation at Stewart Detention Center here in Georgia.
When I was detained in March, I was complying with everything ICE asked of me, and it still wasn’t enough. I have diabetes and other health conditions. When I first arrived to Stewart, I had to wait one week before receiving my routine daily medications because they were so full they couldn’t attend to me. My doctors have recommended that I remain in the United States due to my health conditions. But my health—my life—still isn’t enough for ICE to release me.
My adult son is severely autistic, non-verbal, and requires 24-hour care. It’s still not enough for ICE to release me. My daughter just finished her freshman year of college and I need to help her move out of her dorm as any father would. Her success and well-being is still not enough for ICE. My wife was recently hospitalized due to stress. She is grieving the recent passing of her father on top of working full-time as a public school teacher and taking care of the kids. I need to go home to my family. But nothing I do is good enough for ICE.
Let me give you a couple of examples of what is going on at Stewart. My wife mailed me some eyeglasses recently with approval from ICE, yet ICE mistakenly rejected her package and sent the package to the wrong address. Now my eyeglasses are lost at no fault of mine or my family, yet we will have to cover the cost of getting them replaced and shipped to Stewart. These things may seem small, but they take a huge toll on our morale, our health, our finances, and our families’ wellbeing.
I was fortunate to avoid being put on a deportation plane recently that took a plane load of people all the way to Nigeria, only to be turned away by the Nigerian government and sent back to Stewart. ICE is recklessly sending people across the ocean—people who have to make plans, let their families know where they are. And they are doing it with our tax money. That is just a tiny glimpse of what ICE is doing in the shadows, and we are depending on all of you to bring these stories to light. I remain hopeful that justice will prevail if we come together as a community. Please lean on each other for support. As the old proverb says, alone you can go fast, but together, we can go far.”
“The U.S. policy of detaining immigrants en masse is rife with systemic abuse that harms thousands of people and families each day. Through the Communities Not Cages campaign, people are uniting to protect immigrant family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors by calling to shut down existing detention centers and blocking ICE proposals to build new ones. Ultimately, the only humane solution is to abolish the immigration detention system in its entirety. President Biden, despite having had the opportunity to reduce the government’s reliance on immigration detention when he assumed office, has done the opposite,” said Marcela Hernandez, Organizing and Membership Director at Detention Watch Network, a national coalition organizing to abolish immigration detention in the United States. “Today in Georgia, with our members from across the country, we are holding politicians at every level of government accountable for playing political games with the lives of immigrants and for the shameful investment of our tax dollars in incarceration, militarized police training facilities that target Black and brown communities and the ongoing genocide against the people of Palestine. Instead, we are joining together to call for our tax dollars to be invested in strengthening our families and communities by centering the dignity and freedom of all people.”
“The fight for the dignity and respect of the immigrant community is a continuous struggle. The abolition of detention centers and ICE is a pivotal action that needs to take place due to the many human rights violations and dehumanization of our people. The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights will continue to empower our community in times during a presidential election where immigration is exploited for political gain at the expense of the suffering of our community,” said Jennifer Lopez, Political Associate at Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights.
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Black Alliance for Immigrant Justice
Community Estrella
Detention Watch Network
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights
The ICE Breakers
El Refugio