Press Release:
Hunger strikers at York County met with retaliation by ICE and Prison Officials
Call for immediate release of all individuals detained continues as IGSA contract end draws near and another round of transfers scheduled for June 31st, 2021
Philadelphia-PA
Local organizations Juntos, MILPA, VietLead, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, and Asian Americans United emit a public statement revealing the retaliation by ICE and Prison officials against hunger strikers demanding liberation at York County Prison.
Starting Friday, July 23rd, dozens of our loved ones detained by ICE at York began a peaceful hunger strike to demand their immediate release, which the jail swiftly met with an aggressive response, sending six jail workers to pressure individuals to end the strike with tasers and firearms. Hunger strikers were immediately deprived of phones, TVs and showers - depriving them of their ability to contact their legal support and family. ICE regularly engages in abuse and retaliation against hunger strikers in detention, and evidence shows the great lengths to which ICE will go to end hunger strikers rather than engage with legitimate demands.
Furthermore, severe racial disparity continues for those released versus those who are transferred; several strikers who are Black immigrants felt that their race contributed to their continued prolonged detention. Evidence shows that, like the prison system, the immigration detention system is grossly anti-Black. While only 7% of non-citizens in the U.S. are Black, Black immigrants make up 20% of people facing deportation on criminal grounds in the U.S.
Community organizations have mobilized since the news broke that the ICE contract would not be renewed with York on June 1st, calling for ICE to halt all transfers of community members still detained. This collective effort has resulted in the release of 92 community members so far. Despite this, transfers are set to continue this Saturday, further threatening to send those who are detained far away from their community of support and legal support in Pennsylvania.
Executive Director, Erika Guadalupe Núñez, states “The brave and principled individuals who are currently on strike at York County are not only highlighting the injustice that is prolonged detention and indiscriminate enforcement, but the various human rights abuses and anti-blackness that is a systemic commonality across the system of detention in this country. We uplift the demands of those detained and demand ICE shift to immediate releases, not transfers.”
Desi Burnette, State Coordinator of MILPA, stated. “We stand with those who are detained and today are exercising their right to be heard, to make demands for their wellbeing, safety and release. Every person in that facility should have access to lawyers immediately and ICE must refrain from targeting and repressing those on strike. The Biden administration can and must do more for so many families who remain separated by detention in our country.
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The Release Our Loved Ones coalition is a group of community based organizations and legal services providers who formed to protest against inhumane detention conditions at York and to advocate for the release of all individuals detained. Since the contract end was announced, the coalition has worked to secure the release of 92 individuals from York County Prison and echoes a nationwide call to free our loved ones from the immigration imprisonment industry.
Organizations include: ACLU PA, Asian Americans United, Juntos, Casa San Jose, MILPA, Nationalities Service Center, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, PIRC, and VietLead.