Call Eloy at 520-466-4141 x 23200 ask for the warden's office to demand that the hunger strikers be released from solitary confinement, and that CCA recommend to ICE they be released from detention altogether:
Jaime Valdez (A# 201-288-309)
Elder Gomez-Lopez (A# 087-455-416)
Rosy Gallego (A# 205-930-728)
Margarita Gallego (A# 205-936-572)
Arturo Castaneda (A# 205-942-830)
J Cruz Lopez (A# 205-920-821)
Also call AZ ICE 602-766-7030 and DC ICE at 202-732-3000 to tell them that the community demands the above prisoners be freed!
If you're in Phoenix, pay close attention to what's going down at ICE (2035 n central Phoenix), even try to make your support known there today - the cops have threatened to arrest people if they don't clear out. The hunger strikers and their supporters have every intention of staying, so this will be a show-down. Prepare to do some jail support, next.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Defying the anti-camping ordinance in the City of Phoenix.
PUENTE's Encampment at ICE, as day 6 dawns.
Photo by PUENTE
for immediate release // excuse cross-posting/
Contact: Caroline Picker, Puente Movement, media@puenteaz.org, 510-501-7276
Families on Hunger Strike at ICE React to CCA Punishment, Enter 7th Day with Reportedly 9 Detainees in Solitary Confinement
Monday
marks the seventh day on hunger strike for six families with loved ones
in detention in the Eloy Detention Center. Since they began their fast
on President's Day, they've received countless visitors at their
encampment in front of the Phoenix ICE field office, including several
hundred undocumented youth from the national United We Dream Network,
pledging their support.
Yesterday, Sunday February 23rd, the hunger strikers
travelled to Eloy to hold vigil outside of the Eloy Detention Center,
in order to draw attention to what their loved ones are facing inside.
(see attached photos) Lourdes Hernandez, whose husband has been
detained in Eloy for over 1 year after being racially profiled by the
Phoenix Police Departmemt, says, "Without my husband home, my whole
family has suffered. My 20-year-old daughter has dropped out of school
and taken two jobs to support us. We are here to send strength to my
husband and all the rest of the detainees to keep their hope alive: we
will continue to fight until they are home with us."
By the end of their first week, the hunger strike by
those within the detention center had reportedly spread throughout the
facility prompting Corrections Corporation of America, the private
company that runs the facility, to retaliate against the fasters by
placing them in solitary confinement. Despite multiple phone calls
expressing concern for the detainees, the company reportedly has placed
nine of them in "the hole" as a disciplinary measure to prevent further
participation in the hunger strike.
The detainees, some of whom have been in detention
for over two years, are seeking their release so that they can fight
their deportation orders from the outside instead of from continued
incarceration in the hazardous conditions of the CCA facility.
To schedule interviews with hunger strikers, please call Caroline at 510-501-7276
All photos by Barni Axmed Qaasim
