They begin movement to prevent the expansion of the Adelanto Detention Center. (Getty Images)
Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
A few hours after the Advancement Council votes to expand the detention center of the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) in that city, immigrants who were in custody in that prison demonstrated against it due to the inhumane conditions under which operate.
The GEO group administrator of the Processing Center of the Migration and Customs Service (ICE) in Adelanto, intends to create space to include 750 more beds. They currently have about 1,900 detained immigrants.
“The government pays GEO $ 200 a day for each detained immigrant,” said Kimberly Galindo of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, adding that the community does not want the expansion of the largest immigration detention center in the western United States. .
Knowing that the AB 32 law was going to come into force in 2019 that prohibits new contracts with private prison companies, the GEO group anticipated the date to pressure local authorities and advance its project to expand its facilities in Advancement.
Armando Carmona, spokesman for the Coalition for the Closure of Advancement, said that several lawsuits are prepared in case the expansion is approved.
The Coalition for the Closure of Advancement convened a virtual press meeting to hear the testimonies of immigrants who were in that prison run by the GEO group.
“En Adelanto keeps people in inhuman conditions. Simple venereal diseases can be fatal. Now with the coronavirus, the detainees are sprayed with chemicals that are totally harmful, toxic and carcinogenic; and they inhale them because there is no way for the air to escape in those eggs that are the Adelanto cells, ”said Erwin, a former Adelanto detainee.
Meanwhile Janett, whose husband was held in Adelanto, asked the Adelanto Council not to agree to the expansion.
“If GEO expands Adelanto, it is going to see more families that are going to suffer. We are workers, we come here to help make this country great and prosperous. We pay taxes. We are honored. We only want the best well-being for our family ”.
Luis, another immigrant who was in Adelanto, complained about the treatment given by the officers. “They treat us worse than animals because an animal is given water to drink and it is fed. They look down on us. For whatever you do they punish you and put you in the hole. There are people who have put it there for up to a year. Many are going crazy because of the abuse and the confinement ”.
In her case, she reported that an Adelanto officer touched her private parts twice. “That is sexual harassment and abuse.”
He considered that all immigration detention centers should be closed. “They are a business. For migration and the company we are a ‘gold coin’. Without us they would not exist. I do not agree with making it bigger ”.
Ursula commented that when her husband was detained in Adelanto, he suffered mainly from poor medical conditions. “You can imagine how they are being treated with COVID-19.”
So he urged the authorities to treat detained immigrants as they would like to be treated.
“ANDThese voices are a bit of an example of the medical malpractice and other extreme retaliation that immigrants experience inside the Adelanto prison.“Said Shanon Camacho, coordinator of the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network and who works for the Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
He added that GEO and ICE have done everything they can to maintain private prisons in California, which has included using their influence over the Adelanto Council and its residents.
Ana, who spent two years in Adelanto, said that she had to be sprayed by the chemicals that they spread in that prison to prevent COVID-19. “I was inside the cell and my throat started to feel sore. I’m not a sensitive person at all, and it was still hard for me to breathe. “
He pointed out that there are no protocols to protect people from the coronavirus from one unit to another.
So he feels extremely sad to learn that they want to add 750 more beds. “This means 750 people outside our communities, or people who come from other countries because they have suffered persecution.”
He added that for the $ 200 the government pays GEO per night, he would rent a night in a nice hotel.
The goal of the Coalition for Advance Closure is the closure of this immigrant prison, and the release of all detainees.
