Issue 14: "I feel like I’m worthless, that gay people were worthless in this country."
Welcome to this week’s edition of IMM Print Weekly, a newsletter that showcases the stories of detained immigrants and their allies.
We seek to shine a light on how immigrant prisons and jails impact human beings and communities, celebrate the work of those advocating for detention abolition, and provide resources on how to get involved.
In this week’s edition: a gay asylum seeker pleads for freedom and one activist’ work to uplift the voices of people in immigrant jails and prisons.
Freedom for Immigrants is continuing to raise money for our National Bond Fund. Since we launched our bond fund, we have bonded out over 260 people, paying over $1.6 million. If any of the stories we’ve published in IMM Print have moved you, please consider donating here.
"Once the hearing was over, I was told blatantly that the best thing for me was to get deported."
Jonathan is a gay asylum seeker from El Salvador. Threatened with death in his home country for being his true self, danger accelerated when his brother was kidnapped by a gang. Years later, he was targeted by members of that same gang. He left home in September 2018 and turned himself into Border Patrol with the hope of staying safe. Ever since then, he’s been shuffled around from multiple detention centers where he was bullied for being gay. In February 2019, a judge decided his asylum claim, but he made the difficult decision to to appeal.
“I have NO criminal record, and I’ve never had a disciplinary problem. My experience inside the detention center hasn’t been easy, and here there are all types of people. There’s a lot of ignorance and I’ve suffered discrimination. I was mocked for being gay with phrases like: ‘Look at the gay,’ ‘there’s the gaylord’. There were also people who refused to sit with me in the dining hall because they couldn’t stand being at the same table as a gay person. All of this generated a tense, unsafe and uncomfortable environment for me. My mental health worsened more and more because I feel like I’m worthless, that gay people were worthless in this country; why keep living if there would never be acceptance.”
Read the rest of Jonathan’s letter here.
“Positivity is Underrated”: This Artist/Activist Wants to Uplift Messages to Detained Immigrants
Julio Salgado is an undocumented artist who wants to make sure that people in detention know that there are undocumented people outside that are fighting for “all of us.” That is what he wants to accomplish with “Flowers On The Inside.” — a project that sends postcards of support to people in detention, featuring art from undocumented artists.
“I made a poster that says ‘I’m no longer interested in convincing you of my humanity.’ If I have to try to convince you that I’m a human being, I’m not interested. I did that for so many years. DREAM was too much ‘I’m a good immigrant’ and just created a binary. Like only the good immigrants deserve things.”
Read the full interview with Julio here.
Get involved:
Freedom for Immigrants’ Policy Director Sarah Gardiner has an op-ed in The New York Times about the ongoing hunger strikes in Louisiana. Read and share here.
We are doing everything in our power to support the South Asian men on hunger strike and fight for their release, but we need your help. Last week we were able to post bond for one of the men with the help of his lifelong friend. He was detained in Louisiana and on hunger strike for more than 90 days! Our National Immigration Bond Fund is currently very low on funds and we have an overwhelming number of individuals still in need of bond support. Donate if you can.