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SUPPORT
REFUGEE MOTHERS
Twenty-two refugee mothers have gone on hunger strike at the Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania (a family detention center – one of only three in the US) to demand their freedom, to protest indefinite detention and the traumatic effects of confinement on their children who are with them – some of whom are suicidal. They say, “We are 22 mothers who are detained at Berks Family Residential Center being mothers who have been from 270 days to 365 days in detention with children ages 2 to 16 years old, depriving them of having a normal life, knowing that we have prior traumas from our countries, risking our own lives and that of our children on the way until we arrived here, having family and friends who would be responsible for us and who are waiting for us with open arms and that immigration refuses to let us out.”
See Open Letter from the Mothers and action alert forwarded from Stop Detentions International, below. UPDATE: A psychologist has repeatedly threatened several women that their children will be taken from them if they remain on strike.
In addition to other actions below, please send letters of support here. They have received messages of support from dozens of individuals and organizations, including Bernie Sanders, and their letter was publicized on Nicholas Kristoff’s blog on the New York Times, and covered in The Guardian and The Nation. On Monday morning, campaigners from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Make the Road PA brought the demands of the hunger strikers to President Obama vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard. |
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From:
stopdetentionsinternational@googlegroups.com
[mailto:stopdetentionsinternational@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of MaruMoraVillalpando BREAKING: 22 Moms in Berks Family Detention
Center on indefinite hunger strike demanding their freedom and calling out
Jeh Johnson for his lies that ICE only detains families for 20 days.
#not1more #shutdownberks Call Thomas Decker of Philadelphia Regional ICE office to demand their release immediately; 215-656-7164 To sign the
petition follow this link: http://vamosjuntos.org/petition-shut-down-berks/ |
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OPEN LETTER TO US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JEH JOHNSON FROM THE MOTHERS "Open Letter to Jeh Johnson: The reason for this letter of demands is to make it known to you that since Monday August 8th we have started an “INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE.” The Immigration Department has made a public announcement stating that in family detention center parents and children are detained no longer than 20 days. WE WANT TO DISPROVE THIS INFORMATION!! We are 22 mothers who are detained at Berks Family Residential Center being mothers who have been from 270 days to 365 days in detention with children ages 2 to 16 years old, depriving them of having a normal life, knowing that we have prior traumas from our countries, risking our own lives and that of our children on the way until we arrived here, having family and friends who would be responsible for us and who are waiting for us with open arms and that immigration refuses to let us out. Seeing these injustices, we have decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike until we obtain our immediate freedom because all of us left our countries of origin fleeing violence, threats and corruption that not even the government of each of our countries in Central America can control. On many occasions our children have thought about SUICIDE because of the confinement and desperation that is caused by being here. The teenagers say BEING HERE, LIFE MAKES NO SENSE, THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO BREAK THE WINDOW TO JUMP OUT AND END THIS NIGHTMARE, and on many occasions they ask us if we have the courage to escape. Other kids grab their IDs and tighten them around their necks and say that they are going to KILL themselves if they don’t get out of here. The youngest kids (2 years old) cry at night for not being able to express what they feel. For a long time, the children have not been eating well, but they have never paid attention to our complaints about the food until now. We are desperate and we have decided that: WE WILL GET OUT ALIVE OR DEAD. If it is necessary to sacrifice our lives so that our children can have freedom: WE WILL DO IT! Putting aside the threats we are receiving from one of the psychologists and some doctors in this facility. We are calling on the government to take action on this matter and open their eyes, letting them know that IMMIGRATION is acting against the law and is mocking them, making arguments that are false; besides our children are entitled to freedom according to the case of Flores, and still they are here with us We hope that our voices are heard, so that we can have the FREEDOM that we NEED so much."
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Sign the Petition to Shut Down Berks This post is also available in: Spanish The Berks Family Detention Center, known as the Berks County Residential Center (BCRC), is a prison for immigrant families, where children as young as two-weeks-old have been incarcerated, along with their parents. On January 27, 2016, after months of community pressure and evidence of human rights abuses at BCRC, including a rape by a guard, labor abuses, and medical neglect of the families and children, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) issued a notice that it would not renew the license for BCRC, effectively ending family detention in Pennsylvania. The license will expire on February 21, 2016 and as of Monday, February 22, BCRC will not only be operating without a license and in direct violation of state law but will also be operating in violation of federal law, following two federal court rulings against the incarceration of families and ordering for their immediate release. Given the record of inhumane conditions and that operation of BCRC is against state and federal law, we demand that BCRC be immediately shut down. PA DHS should order an Emergency Removal of families while the appeal is in process, the County Commissioners should drop their appeal and stop participating in this painful and inhumane practice, and ICE should end their policy of family detention and be held accountable for their violation of Federal law. To: Ted Dallas Order an Emergency Removal of families detained at Berks Detention Facility immediately. To sign the petition follow this link: http://vamosjuntos.org/petition-shut-down-berks/ |
