Updates — Pangea Legal Services

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PRESS RELEASE - GSA Labor Strikers Collective

Contact: Esperanza Cuautle | 510-910-9325 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

June 17, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Golden State Annex Price-Gouging Initiates Labor Strike

Inedible food in commissary marked-up and heavily taxed

MCFARLAND, CA – Immigrant workers detained at the Golden State Annex (GSA) issued the following statement due to the exorbitant cost of commissary items that are often sold past expiration date, and are now being heavily taxed without advanced notice: 

“We are individuals detained at the Golden State Annex. We might be detained here due to our civil immigration matters, however, we are also workers inside this facility. Many of us participate in the “volunteer worker program” to lift some of the financial burden our families must deal with due to the extremely high cost of phone calls and commissary items. We are being exploited for our labor and are paid $1 per day to clean the dormitories. Meanwhile, private prison corporations like The GEO Group receive tens of millions each year to accommodate us detained in ICE custody. 

The food that is provided to us at GSA lacks any level of nutritional value. In fact, we are consistently served spoiled milk and inedible food with foreign objects found in them, as a new report has found. Those of us who get food at the dining hall last are regularly served watered down food because the facility allegedly ran out. GSA is well-aware that many of us rely on the $1 we earn to purchase items from the commissary to supplement our daily diets as well as make phone calls to our families and loved ones. The commissary items, such as tortillas, Honey Buns, chips, and meat pouches, are not nutritious. The worst part is they are sold past their expiration date, as evident by the mold that grows on the items and their stale flavor. 

If this was not enough, GSA increased both prices and taxes on items that we buy frequently without advanced notice. We buy commissary once a week and GSA is pretty much taking a week's worth of pay in taxes per order. Are the millions of taxpayer dollars and profits not enough for The GEO Group? This is a clear sign of exploitation and cruel treatment of every individual at this facility. 

Lastly, we stand in solidarity with the workers detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center who are on their 50th day of strike protesting the unsanitary conditions the facility puts them through, especially during the ongoing pandemic, a situation many of us here also experienced. These are not isolated events as The GEO Group has made clear that their priorities lie in profits over people, a business model that inherently violates human rights to increase profit margin.

We will be on strike until the facility eliminates the commissary tax, provides a variety of items that are not expired, and reduces prices on popular items.”

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Many participants in the “volunteer worker program” rely on the $1 per day compensation to call their family members and loved ones or purchase items in commissary, which are often expired or moldy, as a new report has found. A fundraiser has been launched to support the labor strikers’ efforts. 

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PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde Labor Strikers Collective

Contact: Esperanza Cuautle | 415-254-0475 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

June 7, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Detained Immigrant Workers Formally Announce Labor Strike

Labor strikers issue demands for private prison operator to fulfill

BAKERSFIELD, CA – Today is the 40th day since the individuals detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility have been on a labor strike. This is the second labor strike launched within eight months at the facility owned and operated by The GEO Group. Workers enrolled in the “voluntary work program” – who earn $1 per day to clean the dormitories – coordinated a work stoppage due to the unsanitary and unsafe conditions the private prison operator has subjected them to throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We don’t understand the hypocrisy: outside of detention we’re not allowed to work because of our immigration status, and here we’re told we can work but they only pay us $1 a day. We feel they’re taking advantage of us and our situation,” said a labor striker inside Mesa Verde. The labor strike is inspired by the mass labor movement and worker unionization taking place across the country, where workers are demanding a living wage, better working conditions, and better worker treatment. 

Labor strikers in immigrant detention call on supporters to help amplify their demands:

  1. Detainee treatment: That all individuals detained are treated with respect and dignity by all Mesa Verde officers; 

  2. Voluntary Worker Program: That the number of volunteer workers increase to 12 and the worker salary be in accordance with CA Labor Law minimum wage of $15 per hour;

  3. Facility issued linen and clothing: Per Performance Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS), detained individuals “shall be issued clean clothing, climatically suitable and presentable.” We’re constantly being issued old, torn and unserviceable or indelibly stained linen and clothing. We request this practice to cease. Furthermore, climatically suitable clothing issued: 1) shorts for the summer and 2) sweatpants and wool blankets for winter. Three days of laundry for jumpsuits and an extra pair of shoes to use for the recreational yard. 

  4. Personal Hygiene Items: We request hygienic supplies including razors that don’t give razor burns, irritation or cuts to skin (preferably double-blade), shaving cream, deodorant, dental flossers and better quality toothbrushes. 

  5. Food Service: We request that hot water be available during all meals. Per PBNDS “better quality food, proportioned servings, food (meals) cooked properly,” more access to and properly washed fruit given at every meal. 

  6. Maintenance: Per PBNDS, “safe potable water shall be available throughout the facility”. We request that maintenance to fix and sustain livable conditions in the facility.

  7. Visitation: In accordance with the announcement by ICE regarding a new visitation guidance, we urge a full fledge and reinstatement of in-person visitation at the MV facility just like at GSA, by June 16, 2022. In addition, we request that free virtual visitation be made available so each person at MV has an equal opportunity to see their family members, friends and loved ones. 

  8. Health Care: We request that proper health care be provided by MV to all detained individuals, e.g. hire a doctor to be on site and not shared with another facility, to be referred to outside specialists promptly, and offer preventative health care like providing sunscreen in the summer. 

Requests to convene a meeting with the facility administrator has been met with hostility, nonetheless, the labor strikers welcome open negotiations with The GEO Group.

Many participants in the “volunteer worker program” rely on the $1 per day compensation to call their family members and loved ones or purchase items in commissary, which are often expired or moldy, as a new report has found. A fundraiser has been launched to support the labor strikers’ efforts. 

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Enrique Is Free!

Contact: jessica@pangealegal.org

Date: February 28, 2022

For immediate release

Enrique Is Free!

After a combined 18+ years of incarceration and ICE detention, Pangea client, Enrique Cristobal Meneses, is finally home!!!

While incarcerated at Soledad State Prison, Enrique transformed himself into a powerful and steadfast community leader. There, he earned the equivalent of a master’s degree in drug and alcohol counseling through the Offender Mentor Certification Program. With this certification, he taught courses on anger management, thinking errors, grief counseling, and denial management. He was also formative in co-founding National Crimes Victims’ Rights Week at Soledad, which is an annual event focusing on restorative justice. Enrique is remarkable, and his countless achievements cannot be adequately summarized in one update!

On November 10, 2020, California Governor, Gavin Newsom, rightfully commuted Enrique’s sentence. However, on the day Enrique was set to be released, ICE arrested him. Soon after, Pangea attorney, Jessica Yamane Moraga, stepped in to take on Enrique’s representation in his bond proceedings. Together, they compiled one of the most robust release packages, in no small part because Enrique’s name preceded him and organizations were jumping at the opportunity to bring him on board as staff post-release. Enrique’s bond was ultimately denied because the Immigration Judge fixated on Enrique’s 2005 attempted murder conviction, while ignoring all of the evidence of rehabilitation – including the commutation by Governor Newsom.

Jessica challenged the judge’s decision all the way to Northern District Court of Appeals. Unsurprisingly, the system failed Enrique once again, denying his freedom. Pero, la lucha continuó!!! On February 11th, Centro Legal De La Raza’s attorneys, Priya Patel and Susan Beaty, successfully litigated Enrique’s case for long-term relief under the Convention Against Torture before the Immigration Court …. And we WON! Enrique is now Free and home with his family with job offers to begin work as a restorative justice counselor.    

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Confirmed ICE Custody Repopulation at Yuba County Jail

Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

December 30, 2021

For immediate release

Confirmed ICE Custody Repopulation at Yuba County Jail

As Omicron cases surge, advocates worry so will immigrants in detention

Northern California – As of December 27, 2021, at least 1 person is confirmed to be detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail (YCJ). The “suicide jail” sat empty of civil immigrant detainees since October 27, 2021, when Ricardo Vazquez Cruz was the last person released from the notorious jail. The news of repopulation comes on the heels of a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant that has resulted in the highest number of new daily COVID cases the country has ever seen. Yuba County Jail is known for its inhumane conditions, retaliation by guards, medical neglect and tragic deaths, the most recent of which occurred on December 1, 2021.

“It is unconscionable that ICE would start to repopulate Yuba during the holiday season, a time when families are meant to be together,” said the FreeTheYuba 11 Coalition. “This situation could have been completely prevented if DHS Secretary Mayorkas had terminated the contract between the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department and ICE when the facility held 0 individuals in its custody, as 25 Members of Congress urged him to do over two months ago. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department pocketed over $1.4 million from ICE for two months for an empty facility. Secretary Mayorkas’s failure to swiftly act will result in more community members experiencing severe harm or even death from COVID-19 and and the inhumane conditions at the jail.”

ICE has a known pattern of conducting enforcement operations late at night or during the holidays, which makes it far more difficult for targeted community members to access due process. The FreeTheYuba11 Coalition will continue to work with the robust infrastructure of legal service providers located in Northern California to ensure that any and all individuals detained at YCJ have access to legal representation and a fighting chance for freedom. Immigrants who survived ICE custody at Yuba County Jail continue to call on Secretary Mayorkas and ICE to terminate the contract immediately. 

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225 Organizations Slam USCIS Policy on Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Protections

For immediate release: December 13, 2021

Contact: Laila Ayub, laila@projectanar.org 

225 Organizations Slam USCIS Policy on Afghans Seeking Humanitarian Protections
Advocates working with Afghans seeking emergency Humanitarian Parole anticipate mass denials after USCIS announces exclusionary practices. 

Two hundred twenty-five organizations have signed a letter raising concerns about the fate of thousands of Afghans who remain trapped in Afghanistan, and have applied for humanitarian protections with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The organizations fear mass denials of applications, leaving tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans at risk under deadly Taliban rule. The letter, led by Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), is the second appeal organized by the group to the Biden Administration and members of Congress, and is part of a broader grassroots effort to organize protection for Afghan asylum seekers. 

“As legal service providers, advocates, and members of the Afghan diaspora, we seek not only adjudication of Afghan Humanitarian Parole applications, but the favorable use of the wide discretion that USCIS has to grant parole. Instead, USCIS has laid out a plan that will close the door to tens of thousands of Afghans seeking safety in the United States,” the letter notes.

The letter notes USCIS standards that many believe are insurmountable, including:

  1. Third party evidence naming the applicant and documenting threats or risks of serious harm, a burden of proof that is not normally part of the humanitarian process, and often impossible to fulfill given the realities on the ground in Afghanistan. 

  2. USCIS has arbitrarily heightened the threat standard required for these applications, in contradiction of their own prior Humanitarian Parole Trainings and Guidelines.

  3. Heightened standards produce a potential for mass denials in the absence of alternative pathways. Afghans have turned to Humanitarian Parole because other pathways are inaccessible, backlogged, and insufficient for the urgent needs produced by the Taliban takeover of the country. Advocates have long urged special programs to address the inaccessibility of existing pathways, yet no such plans have been developed by the US government. 

“Advocates are concerned by USCIS Humanitarian Parole denials that rely on insurmountable evidentiary standards, and pull the rug out from under tens of thousands of pending applications with no alternative pathways for relief. USCIS has adopted an exclusionary policy toward Afghans that contradicts its own guidance,” said Laila Ayub for Project ANAR. 

A full explanation of these concerns, as well as seven clear recommendations on the issue, are detailed in the Project ANAR letter that you can read here.

“We remain gravely concerned that the United States is abandoning tens of thousands of Afghans to die by cutting off their last available pathway to refuge. The United States has an obligation to keep pathways open for Afghans who have no alternative ways to seek asylum and reunite with family in the United States,” said Juliette Chisam-Majid for Project ANAR. 

Project ANAR is an Afghan-led immigration organization that has connected thousands of Afghans with legal volunteers in order to apply for Humanitarian Parole to the United States.

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BREAKING: 24 Members of Congress led by Lofgren and Correa urge closure of 3 ICE detention centers in CA

Contact:

Laura Duarte Bateman | laura[@]ccijustice.org | 415-684-5463

Tamara Marquez tamara[@]ic4ij.org 562-212-2664

Adriana Jasso | ajasso[@]afsc.org | 619-808-7277

October 21, 2021

For immediate release

BREAKING: 24 Members of Congress led by Lofgren and Correa urge closure of 3 ICE detention centers in CA

California — Today, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Lou Correa led an additional 22 Members of the California Delegation, including U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the immediate closure of two privately owned and operated ICE detention facilities, Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Otay Mesa Detention Facility, and an end to the Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) between ICE and Yuba County Jail, the last ICE contract with a public facility in California.

Over 60 organizations across the state of California endorsed the letter, displayed in a unified message against immigration detention. The letter highlights the long record of serious abuses, mistreatment, lack of COVID-19 safety protocols, unsanitary conditions, and other disturbing deficiencies outlined in recent reports from the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Organizations thank Members of Congress for championing this issue, which is about protecting the health and safety of all California residents.

Although detention numbers in the state are currently at an all-time low, California has the fourth-largest detained population in the country. It is time for California to lead the charge to reject immigration detention nationally. Organizations across the state welcome the call to end the contracts of Yuba, Adelanto, and Otay Mesa. Yet, it is a collective realization that this is only the beginning in our fight to ensure that we are free from all cages.

ICE deprives thousands of people of liberty each day in conditions that give rise to systemic abuse and rampant medical neglect. The three detention centers which the letter signatories are calling to be closed are no exception:

  • Yuba County Jail has been operating under a court-ordered consent decree since 1979 due to numerous constitutional violations and lack of adequate care. Only one person, Ricardo, remains detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail.

  • Otay Mesa was the site of the first COVID-19 related death in ICE detention in the country when Mr. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia passed away last year. Recently the OIG issued a report outlining various violations of ICE's own detention standards that compromised the health, safety, and rights of people in this facility.

  • The Adelanto ICE Processing Center has been reprimanded by several government oversight agencies due to their consistent violations, including the use of a harsh disinfecting chemical, HDQ Neutral, which caused serious health problems to the hundreds of immigrants who were directly sprayed with this chemical. Due to the harmful effects of HDQ Neutral, a federal judge enjoined Adelanto from continuing to use it.

Advocates call on California and its elected leaders to step up and shut down all detention centers. The congressional letter is one part of a larger call to action from community organizations to release all community members from immigration custody, and to focus on community-based care as an alternative vision to detention. Local community vigils calling for the shutdown of these three detention centers and the release of detained individuals will be held in the forthcoming weeks.

You can read a copy of the letter here.

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Organizations in Support:

Al Otro Lado

Alianza Sacramento

AFSC-San Diego

Asian Law Alliance

California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice

Campaign for Immigrant Detention Reform (CIDR)

Centro Legal de la Raza

Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto

Council on American-Islamic Relations - Sacramento Valley

Desert Support for Asylum Seekers

Dolores Street Community Services

Education and Leadership Foundation

Espacio Migrante

Faithful Friends

Immigrant Defense Advocates

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants

Law Office of Helen Lawrence

Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition

Multicultural Center of Marin (MCM)

National Immigration Law Center

NorCal Resist

North Bay Rapid Response Network: Napa, Solano and Sonoma Counties

Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN)

Pangea Legal Services

Rapid Response Network of Kern

Santa Cruz Welcoming Network

SB County Immigrant Legal Defense Center

SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network)

South Bay People Power

STEP UP! Sacramento

Ventura County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-VC)

VIDAS Legal Services (North Bay)

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120 Organizations Call for Transparency, Action Following Freeze in Afghan Humanitarian Parole Application Process

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contact:
Laila Ayub, projectanar.info@gmail.com 
Roxana Moussavian, roxana@pangealegal.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2021

120 Organizations Call for Transparency, Action Following Freeze in Afghan Humanitarian Parole Application Process 

Despite grassroots efforts by an Afghan-led organization to file thousands of applications, the humanitarian parole process remains frozen and opaque.

Nearly 120 organizations have signed on to a letter calling for transparency and action on Humanitarian Parole applications from Afghans. The letter, led by Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), was directed to the Biden Administration and members of Congress, and demanded accountability and clarity on thousands of applications filed by the group.

Project ANAR is an Afghan-led immigration organization that is connecting over 9,000 Afghans with over one thousand legal volunteers in order to apply for Humanitarian Parole to the United States. An outpouring of grassroots financial support has also raised more than $350,000 to help pay the USCIS $575 filing fee per application, which Project ANAR has distributed to cover fees for hundreds of Afghans’ applications. 

Throughout the United States, more than 30,000 humanitarian parole applications are anticipated to be filed by non-profit organizations in order to assist vulnerable Afghans in obtaining refuge from the Taliban.  Despite these efforts, reports have emerged that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has not granted any Humanitarian Parole applications since August 31, 2021 for anyone who remains in Afghanistan. Advocates are now demanding clarity about the fate of thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees.

“We have a duty both to our clients, and to the amazing volunteers and donors who have helped us collectively file thousands of these applications, to allow Afghans to seek asylum and reunite with family in the U.S. We cannot provide them guidance or ensure that these efforts are properly directed unless the administration clarifies what is happening and what it plans to do with these applications,” said Laila Ayub, an immigration attorney and coordinator for Project ANAR. 

The letter focuses on five key demands from advocates:

  1. Public Transparency

  2. Congressional Hearing and Oversight

  3. Community Coordination

  4. Safe Passage

  5. New Pathway to Relief

For a full explanation of these demands, read the letter here.

“The United States owes a unique duty to the people of Afghanistan given not only the events of the last year, but the last few decades in the region. The least our government can do is act in good faith in responding to this community-led effort to provide critical support to Afghans,” said Wogai Mohmand, an attorney and coordinator for Project ANAR. 

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PROJECT ANAR LAUNCHES TO SUPPORT THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contact: Jesus Chavez, jchavez@centrolegal.org (559) 213-6841

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2021

PROJECT ANAR LAUNCHES TO SUPPORT THOUSANDS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES

Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area - On August 14, 2021, Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. In response to this crisis, a small team of Afghan organizers rallied advocates from across the country and began frantically working to help a long list of Afghan nationals; some are extremely high-risk young people, some are single women who have worked in TV journalism and women’s rights, and some are folks who collaborated closely with the US and are in deep danger.

This team became Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), and began filing humanitarian parole applications for Afghans. This is a rapid-response emerging crisis. The Project’s main focus is humanitarian parole. Humanitarian Parole is a pathway for entry to the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons. It is usually granted when someone has no other alternatives for entry. It's essentially a temporary permission to come to the United States, on a humanitarian basis, and stay for up to one year (as granted at USCIS discretion). For many of our families, that permission could allow time for their other pending SIV and P-2 visas to be processed or for family reunification processes to be submitted. For some, it may be one of their only pathways to rapid safety. Typically, Humanitarian Parole applications are processed quicker than permanent status visas.

Humanitarian Parole is also important as a strategy because it might allow families to leave harm's way more quickly and also provide them with papers that would count as "onward travel" confirmation, which helps with evacuation efforts. Currently there are evacuation limitations for people with no documents and few countries still willing to take refugees. Humanitarian Parole could provide many families with an important missing stepping stone in their efforts to flee to safety.

The Project has also focused on a large congressional pressure campaign and created initial infrastructure to disperse critical financial and legal assistance to Afghan refugees. The coalition is composed of predomiately BIPOC and/or queer lawyers and Afghan organizers, which is currently housed at Pangea Legal Services

Our legal and community partners include: 

  • Afghan American Community Organization

  • Afghan Diaspora for Equality & Progress

  • Berkeley Law for Afghanistan Project

  • Centro Legal de la Raza

  • Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) 

  • Innovation Law Labs

  • Oasis Legal Services

  • PARS Equality Center 

  • Southeast Asian Resource Action Center

Ways You Can Help

  • Donate! Donations cover humanitarian parole filing fees ($575/each), paralegals, and legal coordinators.

  • Become a volunteer sponsor! This is open to US Citizens and Green Card Holders. There is no enforceable ability for wages to be garnished like a permanent status immigration sponsorship. But it does require submission of a tax return to prove you have means at about 125% of the poverty rate, based on the number of people in your household. If anyone has access to a mosque, church group, book club, or workplace social responsibility program or some other kind of community of people who care, they could be transformative change agents in this effort. Bonus points if volunteer sponsors are Muslims who understand the cultural specifics more readily.

  • Become a volunteer lawyer! If you or someone you know is an attorney, please consider providing pro bono hours. Training is provided.

To learn more, visit projectanar.org and keep up to date with our project on Instagram and Facebook (@projectanar), and Twitter (@project_anar). 

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5 organizers, including at least 1 undocumented person, were arrested this morning after the Golden Gate Bridge was blockaded by immigrant families and allies

For immediate release 

September 30, 2021

Press Contacts: 

Luis Angel Reyes Savalza | (415) 635-4931 | luisangel@pangealegal.org

Pete Woiwode 734.709.1789 pete.woiwode@gmail.com 

UPDATE: 5 Organizers Arrested as Immigrant Families and Allies Occupy San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, Demand that Democrats Override Senate Parliamentarian, And Enact Full Economic Justice, Climate Justice, and Citizenship for All, No Exclusions

Watch the Facebook Livestream here: https://www.facebook.com/bayresistance 

Photos and Videos uploaded here : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11fQwL-KzJ4plCeUGbHnRUvCotmYhyWZd?usp=sharing

Hashtags to follow: 

  • #WeAreHome 

  • #CitizenshipForAll

  • #PapelesParaTodos

San Francisco, CA – 5 organizers, including at least 1 undocumented person, were arrested this morning after the Golden Gate Bridge was blockaded by immigrant families and allies demanding Senate Democrats take immediate action to protect all immigrants.   

Thirty-five cars slowed to a stop halting traffic northbound on the iconic bridge. Organizers from the Bay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All exited their cars and gave speeches, carrying banners, and chanted in English and Spanish, and held the bridge for 45 minutes to ensure that their message is heard by Congressional Democrats. 

California Highway Patrol, despite consistent requests from organizers to release traffic, held up commuters on for an additional 20 minutes. CHP then detained and arrested 5 of the organizers, who are currently being held.

This action takes place as a looming Senate vote on the Budget Reconciliation Bill is being watered down from its $3.5 trillion goal, and which excludes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Just yesterday the unelected Senate parliamentarian again recommended against a pathway to citizenship in the Budget Reconciliation Bill. The Movement for Citizenship for All (Papeles Para Todos) and the Bay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All releases the following statement:  

In the last 20 years the wealthiest Americans have received over $5 trillion in tax breaks while Black, Indigenous, immigrants, and working-class communities have been left to languish. 

Each year, federal, state, and local governments receive approximately $120.7 billion in taxes from undocumented immigrants (including $79.7 billion in annual federal taxes). Each year, undocumented workers buoy the country’s social safety net, paying $17 billion to Social Security and $4 billion to Medicare. Yet these government programs unjustly exclude undocumented immigrants from receiving benefits they’ve paid into, as was grotesquely demonstrated when undocumented families were omitted from federal stimulus relief in 2020 and 2021, despite immigrant families, in particular Black and Latinx immigrants, being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have not only benefited from the exploitation of undocumented workers, they have vastly extended policies that dehumanized, criminalized, and deported immigrants (disproportionately Black immigrants), as the appalling repression of Haitian refugees at the border demonstrates.

This injustice must stop. Immigrant communities cannot wait another 20 years of failed promises. An inclusive pathway to citizenship would boost the U.S. economy. As the Center for American Progress reports, a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants would increase U.S. gross domestic product by a cumulative total of $1.7 trillion over 10 years, create 438,800 new jobs, and increase wages for undocumented and American workers. The time to deliver economic justice, climate justice, and citizenship for all is now. 

For these reasons, we demand that Vice President Harris and top Democrats in Congress override the decision by the unelected Senate parliamentarian which excludes undocumented immigrants from the budget reconciliation process. The Senate parliamentarian’s decision is unbinding. The parliamentarian is not democratically elected and can be overridden by the Democrats who control the Senate. Indeed, there’s precedent for this. In 2001, the Republican Party did not hesitate to fire the Senate parliamentarian in order to enact President Bush’s infamous tax-breaks for the super-rich. We demand that the Democrats provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country, and to do so without criminalizing Black and Indigenous immigrants. 

We further demand that the Democrats not exclude economic justice and climate justice from the budget reconciliation bill. We demand that they enact the full $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill, which is already a compromised bill, without further exclusions. 

We demand:

  • Citizenship for all, no exclusions, no criminalization

  • Free community college tuition nationwide and an increase in Pell grants

  • Free pre-kindergarten for 3 and 4-year-old children nationwide

  • Paid federal family leave 

  • Extension of the child tax credit

  • Financial support for parents of children and childcare workers

  • The expansion of MediCare to include dental, vision and hearing benefits

  • Lowering prescription drug prices and extending Obamacare to low-income Americans

  • Forming a Climate Conservation Corps to expand drought and forestry programs

  • Attacking the climate crisis with new polluter fees on corporations, clean energy, and consumer rebates

  • Penalties on employers and corporations for illegal union-busting

Those who occupied the SF Golden Gate Bridge, together with the Bay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All, will hold a follow-up press conference: 

What:          Press Conference & Rally

When:         Thursday, September 30, 2021

Time:           Noon

Location:     Federal Building, 280 S. First Street, San Jose 

Who: Immigrant families and theBay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All

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Immigrants Detained at GSA Stage Peaceful First Amendment Action, ICE Retaliates and Continues Mass-Transfer Campaign In Violation of CDC COVID Guidelines

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. 

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ICE conducts mass transfers amidst COVID-19 surge in Kern County, ICU beds near capacity

Contact: Esperanza Cuautle Velazquez | advocate@pangealegal.org | 510-910-9325; Laura Duarte Bateman | laura@ccijustice.org | 415-684-5463

For immediate release

September 9, 2021

ICE conducts mass transfers amidst COVID-19 surge in Kern County, 

ICU beds near capacity

McFarland, CA -- While a surge in positive coronavirus cases sweeps Kern County, leaders detained at Golden State Annex (GSA) and advocates categorically reject ICE’s intimidation tactic of transferring people in the middle of the night and issued the following statement:

“ICE began a mass-transfer campaign of individuals detained at Golden State Annex to Mesa Verde Detention Facility at around midnight on Wednesday. So far at least 15 people have been moved between facilities, with several waiting in the pipeline. These transfers come at the heels of a complaint filed with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of eight plaintiffs, some of which have been targets of the mass-transfer campaign.

ICE’s decision to transfer individuals between facilities in the midst of a global pandemic, especially as Kern County faces a surge in COVID-19 cases and reaches ICU bed capacity, puts the lives of detained immigrants and Kern County residents at risk. ICE is violating CDC guidelines, which require that people be tested and receive negative results before they can be transferred and recommends a 14-day quarantine both before and after transfer. In addition, advocates raise grave concerns given that The GEO Group does not require their staff, including guards, to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Questions remain with respect to the purpose behind the mass-transfer campaign that occurred well past midnight. Individuals detained at Golden State Annex are feeling mentally and physically distressed, especially people with underlying medical and mental health conditions that are rendered particularly vulnerable to the virus. 

Rather than continuing to put people’s lives at risk in civil detention, we demand that ICE release individuals to the care of their communities where they are able to receive the appropriate medical care that is non-existent in detention facilities across the state.”

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