Rally Against the NW Immigration Detention Center

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Tacoma, WA - People came from near and far (Tacoma, Seattle, Olympia, and Portland) for a protest rally against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. The detention center is run for-profit, by The GEO Group Inc. According to the description on company's website:

GEO(NYSE: GGI) is an industry leader and pioneer in the privatization of correctional facilities throughout the world and is the largest publicly traded company engaged solely in the business of managing correctional and detention facilities. The company offers a comprehensive range of prison and correctional related services to federal, state, local and overseas government agencies.

Meanwhile, many people have complained about abuse in the prison, where many individuals (the facility has capacity for over 1,000,) whom have not even been accused of committing any crimes, have been inhumanely detained for months, and in some cases for years, at a time (http://www.hatefreezone.org/downloads/ExecutiveSummary.pdf).


There is more to this story, much, much more. One participant in today's rally called the ICE facility "Guantanamo Northwest". Perhaps that was an exaggeration - but what the conditions are really like inside the prison are not well known to most people.

Another participant informed the assembled rallyers that prisoners in the facility are given pills to keep them calm.

Again, there is much, much more to this story. And certainly it is important to connect the issue of immigration and violations of human rights, with abusive international policies of socio-economic and political dominance and exploitation.

Members of Olympia based groups such as the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP), Latin American Solidarity Organization (LASO), Evergreen Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano Aztlan (MECHA), Bridges Not Walls (BNW), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and Evergreen Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) were instrumental in organizing and participating in the rally.

Other groups, such as One America and The Tacoma/Pierce County Progressive Roundtable were also instrumental in making this event happen.

- Berd

More Photos:

Rally Against the Northwest Immigration Detention Center