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 poem of resilience and a daughter’s fight for her father.
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.
I Refuse
Anthony Miranda was detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington state for over two years. He wrote a poem about how he refused to let the brutality of immigration detention impact his spirit.
“Who understands me when I say I refuse to give into darkness?
I refuse to give up because of the pain they have inflicted on me.
I refuse to let the anger control me.
I refuse to act on the hatred they forced upon my heart.
And I refuse to let these iron stone walls consume my soul.”
Anthony was unfortunately deported recently. Read the rest of his poem here.
A Daughter Fights to Visit Her Father During Adelanto's Never-Ending Quarantine
Jennifer Gonzalez’s father, Ismael, was detained by ICE the week before Thanksgiving while driving home with a coworker. He didn’t have papers and as a result, was placed in a local county jail before being transferred to Otay Mesa and then ultimately Adelanto. Since being in detention Ismael has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and according to Jennifer, the medical staff has not been distributing his medication on a routine basis. She’s attempted to visit him multiple times, but the facility’s chicken pox quarantine has prevented her, despite the fact her Ismael says there are no cases.
Jennifer says her father is growing increasingly frustrated and is actually considering signing his deportation papers. “We don’t know who to call or what to do,” she says. “My dad says, ‘I’m done. I just want to sign, to get out of here, they treat me so badly here.’ But who will support our family? If he leaves, it will be a total loss for us.”
Read Jennifer’s family story here.
Get Involved:
Freedom for Immigrants has filed two complaints with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, denouncing the medical neglect and retaliatory use of solitary against the 5 South Asian asylum seekers detained in Louisiana. Please continue to keep up the pressure and call the NOLA ICE Field Office to demand their release: John.hartnett@dhs.ice.gov, 318-992-1594.
This family of asylum seekers is struggling to make ends meet after the father was detained at a routine check-in. The family's current source of income is collecting recyclables, which the mother does while her daughter is in school. Donate if you can here.
Go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration. - Deuteronomy 26:11