Contact: Esperanza Cuautle Velazquez | advocate[@]pangealegal.org | 510-910-9325; Deyci Carrillo Lopez | dcarrillolopez[@]centrolegal.org | 510-788-9022
For immediate release
September 23, 2021
BREAKING: Immigrants Detained at GSA Stage Peaceful First Amendment Action, ICE Retaliates and Continues Mass-Transfer Campaign In Violation of CDC COVID Guidelines
McFarland, CA -- Amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases in Kern County, ICE continues its mass-transfer campaign in an attempt to circumvent federal court orders and expand the use of detention centers in the Central Valley. Leaders detained at Golden State Annex (GSA) and community advocates issued the following statement:
We are calling on Members of Congress to intervene and halt ICE’s mass-transfer campaign between Golden State Annex (GSA) and Mesa Verde Detention Facility; both facilities are owned and operated by The GEO Group, Inc. These transfers build on ICE’s long track record of continued violation of CDC guidelines that further expose and put detained individuals, especially those with chronic health conditions, at higher risk of infection and even death.
Since Tuesday, September 22, 2021, individuals detained at GSA have been staging a peaceful action, exercising their First Amendment right, to demand answers with respect to the purpose behind the ongoing mass-transfer campaign. A federal court injunction impedes Mesa Verde from transferring immigrants out of the facility. However, ICE appears to be circumventing the federal injunction by using GSA, a neighboring detention facility that falls outside the court injunction, as a funnel to repopulate Mesa Verde. Indeed, during a court hearing today, where The GEO Group, Inc was requesting a federal judge to lift an order limiting the number of immigrant detainees in the facility, The GEO Group, Inc attorney admitted after pressed by the judge that the sole purpose for this request was to make profit - a request the federal judge denied.
This morning, GSA staff and guards began retaliating against all of the individuals that refused their transfer with disciplinary actions, including solitary confinement if their refusal persists. This retaliatory action from GSA is a blatant effort to terrorize and inflict fear on individuals exercising their First Amendment rights. State and federal intervention is critical to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure the health and safety of all California residents, and that The GEO Group not circumvent a federal order for the sole purpose of making profits during a deadly pandemic.
###