TOMORROW: Rally Calling for Biden Administration To Shut Down Detention Centers, End Deportations, and Release All People in Immigration Detention
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 22, 2021
CONTACT:
Kelsey Parsons | (347) 527-0969 | kelsey@communicationsshop.us
TOMORROW: Rally Calling for Biden Administration To Shut Down Detention Centers, End Deportations, and Release All People in Immigration Detention
WHAT: Rally to demand the Biden administration shut down the Stewart County Detention Center and release, not transfer, immigrant detainees.
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. EST
WHERE: Atlanta ICE Field Office, 180 Ted Turner Dr. SW #522, Atlanta, GA 30303
WHO: GLAHR, Poder Latinx, CASA Alterna, Community Estrella, Sur Legal, El Refugio, Ice Breakers, Somos South Georgia, Savannah DSA, SEIRN, Georgia Detention Watch, Resurgens Collective, Migrant Equity Southeast, and former immigrant detainees
ATLANTA – On Thursday, September 23, Poder Latinx and partners will bring dozens of people together for a rally to shut down all detention centers, demand an end to deportations, and release all people currently in immigration detention. Thursday’s direct action is one of several actions taking place across the country during Detention Watch Network, FIRM Action, Mijente, United We Dream, and the We Are Home Campaign’s “Communities Not Cages” National Day of Action. In February, Detention Watch Network launched the “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” campaign to demand the shut down of 10 immigration detention centers in the first year of the Biden administration. The ‘first ten’ detention centers provide a roadmap of where to start, exemplifying how the immigration detention system as a whole is inherently abusive, unjust, and fatally flawed beyond repair.
The Stewart County Detention Center has a well-documented record of abuse, including several COVID-19 related and preventable deaths. To date, the Biden administration has cut the contract for only one of the “first ten” facilities, the notorious Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia.
Advocates are demanding urgent action by the administration as COVID-19 outbreaks in detention are ongoing, and 2020 was the deadliest year for people in ICE custody since 2005. Despite President Biden’s campaign promises to roll back ICE’s immigration detention system, the number of people in detention has increased significantly since President Biden took office and community members continue to be arrested and detained by ICE for deportation. As people across the country continue to unite for affirmative relief and a clear pathway to citizenship, the Communities Not Cages National Day of Action calls for urgent action to demand an end to deportation, the closure of all detention centers, and the release of all people in immigration detention.
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Poder Latinx’s mission is to build a political wave where Latinx communities, immigrants, and people of color are decision-makers in this country’s democracy.