Georgia Immigrants’ Rights Community Holds a Rally Demanding the Biden Administration Shut Down Detention Facilities and Cuts ICE & CBP’s Budget
STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September, 15, 2023
CONTACT:
James Woo, Advancing Justice-Atlanta, jwoo@advancingjustice-atlanta.org
Atlanta, GA — Today, Georgia’s immigrants’ rights community rallied outside the ICE Field Office as part of the National Day of Action against immigration detention and deportation. The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), Georgia Detention Watch, The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Community Estrella, ICE Breakers, El Refugio, Asian American Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta), South Carolina Collective, and Detention Watch Network demanded the Biden Administration close the Stewart Detention Center (SDC) and the Folkston ICE Processing Center, both privately-run facilities in Georgia. At the beginning of his term, Biden was interrupted by immigrant rights activists in Atlanta who demanded he end private detention centers. He vowed to close private prisons but has failed to live up to his promises. Instead, the administration has increasingly relied on for-profit corporations to detain immigrants.
The organizers denounced the increased detentions and deportations during the Biden Administration. In August the number of people in immigration detention reached over 30,000, more than double the number when President Biden took office in January 2021. As of June 26, 2023, there have been over 4 million deportations and expulsions under Biden.
“The Biden Administration and Congress continue to funnel billions of dollars to ICE and CBP, so these two entities continue their history of violence and abuse toward our communities,” said Li An Sanchez from Community Estrella. “People at Stewart and Folkston are subjected to abuse and neglect daily. We are calling on Biden to end these contracts, free our people from detention, and invest in our communities, not in more detention. Shut Down Stewart! Shut down Folkston!” said Sanchez.
“In Georgia alone, we have witnessed the deadly consequences of privately owned immigration detention. We are demanding the shutdown of all detention facilities across the country and we condemn the inhumane conditions within. Our collective outrage has fueled us to be here today. Regardless of people’s immigration status, all humans deserve dignity, respect, and fair treatment. Free them all!” said Adelina Nicholls, Executive Director of GLAHR.
“For years, advocates and the federal government itself have found deplorable conditions and dehumanizing treatment at Georgia ICE prisons, including medical neglect, sexual abuse, and solitary confinement of individuals with physical and mental disabilities,” said Meredyth Yoon, Litigation Director at Advancing Justice-Atlanta. “We are outraged and disgusted that ICE continues to detain thousands of our community members at Stewart and Folkston, notwithstanding these horrific human rights abuses, simply because they are immigrants seeking safety or an opportunity at a better life” said Yoon.
Today’s message echoes what advocates have repeatedly expressed for more than a decade through reports, complaints, and similar actions. SDC is widely known as the deadliest immigrant detention facility, particularly with a history of medical neglect that has resulted in 11 documented deaths since it began detaining people in 2006. Documented abuses at SDC include lack of mental health care, use of solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, COVID-19 negligence, medical neglect, forced labor, and use of force against people detained. In July 2022, women bravely stepped forward to submit federal complaints about the sexual assaults they were subjected to at the hands of a Stewart staff member from May 2021 to May 2022.
“We have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous conditions and mistreatment immigrants face at this facility for years,” said Amilcar Valencia, Executive Director of El Refugio. “ICE and CoreCivic endanger the lives of people detained at Stewart, and no one is held accountable. Immigrants are isolated, punished with solitary confinement, without daylight, and some never get to walk out those gates. The concrete walls become their tomb. We simply can not allow human lives to be put at risk. Stewart Detention Center has to be shut down,” said Valencia.
“The United States' incarceration of immigrants is an outrageous international humanitarian crime. The US government accuses countries around the world of human rights' abuses, and uses this as an excuse for military intervention and economic strangulation. Meanwhile, our government violates human rights here in the United States every single day. ICE destroys families with the incarceration and deportation of undocumented immigrants. Massive corporations are incentivized to exploit immigrant labor. The only solution is an immediate end to racist mass incarceration, U.S. imperialist exploitation, and protect the full rights for all immigrants,” said Nat Villasana from The Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Today’s action is one of over 10 actions taking place nationwide in-person and online as part of the Defund Hate and Communities Not Cages campaigns.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all.
