PRESS RELEASE - Pangea Awarded Transformative Yield Giving Open Call Award

Contacts:

Roxana Moussavian | roxana@pangealegal.org

Elena Hodges | elena@pangealegal.org

March 19, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE: PANGEA AWARDED TRANSFORMATIVE YIELD GIVING OPEN CALL AWARD

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Pangea is excited to announce the award of a $2 million transformational grant that we plan to spend over the next decade to build the organization's infrastructure and ensure the long-term financial stability of our legal services and community organizing work. These investments will multiply our impact as we rededicate ourselves to working alongside our immigrant communities in the fight for justice and equity, for as long as needed. 

In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an Open Call for community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to support individuals and families with access to the fewest foundational resources and opportunities. Today, Yield Giving and Lever for Change announced Pangea Legal Services as one of the Yield Giving Open Call’s awardees. 

Receiving an award through this national open call, which included a thorough participatory review process, is a major vote of confidence in Pangea’s unique model and approach to immigrant justice work. Since we started more than 10 years ago, what we do and how we do it has always been fairly unique. Pangea is made up of immigration lawyers and organizers who believe that our country’s immigration laws are fundamentally broken. We marry community organizing with legal services, in an effort to transform the immigration system. We not only serve our clients, we invest in their leadership development and partner with them to do our advocacy and community education work together. 

Pangea’s organizing happens in coalition. From anchoring 24/7 Rapid Response Networks across the Bay Area to provide emergency support following ICE arrests, to collaborating on organizing campaigns to secure our community members’ release from detention, to participating in free legal clinics and know-your-rights events with other community legal service providers, we know that we are stronger through close, long-term collaboration with our partners. As formerly detained leader Pedro Ayon explains, “participation in shared community events where you fight alongside other formerly detained folks and immigrant organizations to demand freedom and the closure of detention centers sets Pangea apart. I am very grateful and proud to be able to meet and participate alongside you in our fight against injustice and to seek the closure of the sites that hold our immigrant siblings captive.” 

We do all of this while also organizing ourselves through a democratically-run, non-hierarchical management model. Every member of our organization is compensated equally for their work—from our co-founders to our front-desk staff. We are the community we seek to serve: 40 percent of our staff are either undocumented or formerly undocumented. Some of us were previously deported and detained. The vast majority of our staff and board are people of color, immigrants, and children of immigrants. 

“Pangea is an amazing organization. Pangea has had a very, very, very big impact in my life in so many ways....I just see how they move, how they fight, how they talk, how they support their people,” Yazmin Elias, a formerly detained Pangea client, shared recently. “And I think that’s one of my reasons that I’m fighting even harder, because I know I deserve a second chance and I know the person that I became now....Like we say in Spanish, Pangea mueve cielo, tierra, y mar. They move sky, earth, and sea to fight for their people. They don't let us fall.”

The Open Call received 6,353 applications from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Pangea’s application underwent participatory peer review by other applicant organizations, and we emerged as one of the top-rated applications. In Fall 2023, we advanced to review by an external evaluation panel and a final due diligence stage. In light of the powerful work of the top-rated applicant organizations, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount. “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the Open Call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift, and empower transformative organizations that often remain unseen,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. 

Receiving this award is a testament to the success of our unique approach to immigrant rights work, and a strong showing of support for our vision for the future. “We are working together to win citizenship for all nationally. And we are mobilizing our communities to close all immigration detention centers, first in California and then everywhere. This award is bringing us one step closer to making these dreams a reality,” confirmed Esperanza Cuautle, Pangea Co-Director and Detained Organizer. “We are thrilled to continue working together with our community.” 

###

Yield Giving

Established by MacKenzie Scott to share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people, Yield Giving is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control. To date, Yield’s network of staff and advisors has yielded over $16,500,000,000 to 1,900+ non-profit teams to use as they see fit for the benefit of others. To learn more, visit www.yieldgiving.com.

Lever for Change

Lever for Change connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized challenges and other tailored funding opportunities. Top-ranked teams and challenge finalists become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding, amplify members’ impact, and accelerate social change. Founded in 2019 as a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lever for Change has influenced over $1.7 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 145 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org. 


#SaveAsylum

Pangea joins the chorus of voices denouncing the Biden administration’s proposal to radically curtail life-saving protections for immigrants seeking asylum in exchange for increased funding for foreign military aid to Israel and Ukraine. This proposal is a lose-lose for our communities in the U.S. and abroad. Reports indicate that Biden’s proposal would involve: (1) enacting a sweeping third country transit ban into law, automatically barring asylum for the vast majority of people seeking refuge at the U.S.-Mexico border; (2) Raising the bar in initial screenings, which would block many refugees from accessing the asylum process altogether; and, (3) Expanding expedited removal nationwide, which would allow the government to round up immigrants and asylum seekers around the country for rapid deportations. These proposed restrictions would gut the asylum system, violate international law, and trample due process. 

The Biden administration’s proposal includes sending an additional $10.1 billion in military aid to Israel and $13.6 billion for increased border militarization at the U.S.-Mexico border, as part of a $110.5 billion supplemental funding request. We reject this attempt to unjustly leverage the lives of our immigrant community members as bargaining chips to appease anti-asylum legislators. We affirm that there is no immigrant justice without Palestinian liberation. The fundamental right to move and the freedom to seek protection from persecution is not up for negotiation!

We need all pro-immigrant and pro-refugee advocates to ACT NOW to stop the White House from green-lighting these anti-asylum legislative proposals. Join us to #SaveAsylum!

Learn more and Take Action: 

  • Spread the word: Use DefundHate’s social media toolkit to increase the pressure on Congress and encourage your friends and colleagues to speak up.

  • Contact your electeds: Use this Call Script from #WelcomeWithDignity. NOTE: POST THIS CallScriptV4.jpg and TAG to give credit 

  • Read: CGRS, Human Rights First, National Immigrant Justice Center, and Refugees International [PLEASE TAG THE LISTED ORGS] have published an analysis of the legislative proposals being considered by Congress, breaking down how they would violate the United States' international obligations to protect refugees.

PRESS RELEASE - Pangea's Statement on Gaza and Palestinian Liberation

PRESS RELEASE - Pangea Statement on Gaza and Palestinian Liberation

Contacts:

Elena Hodges | elena@pangealegal.org

Vanessa Godinez | vanessa@pangealegal.org 

October 19, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO IMMIGRANT JUSTICE WITHOUT PALESTINIAN LIBERATION

As a community legal services organization run by and for immigrants, we express our unequivocal solidarity with Palestine. We support Palestinian liberation in the face of Israeli genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. We know that Palestinian liberation is integral to freedom and justice for all immigrant communities.  

Pangea envisions a world where the fundamental right to move is respected and appreciated by all. We work alongside immigrant communities as they mobilize to stop deportations, end immigration detention, and build toward a future where we all can thrive. We see how the struggle of immigrant communities in the U.S. is connected to struggles against militarism and racial capitalism around the world.

Pangea is especially concerned about the ways Palestinians and allies in the U.S. – including our own Co-Directors and our current and former clients – are facing escalating backlash for speaking out in support of Palestinian liberation. Federal and local elected officials and the news media are contributing to an unsafe environment for our community members. Lawyers, law students, and other advocates around the U.S. are facing retaliation and harassment for expressing solidarity with Palestine. Many of Pangea’s Co-Directors are alumni of Berkeley Law and NYU Law, both of which are failing to support and protect current law students who have spoken out for Palestinian liberation, even as they face death threats, doxxing, and job loss. Here in San Francisco, many of our Co-Directors, clients, and close community members attended an emergency solidarity action for Gaza on October 14, 2023. We note with grave concern the response of San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins, who initially characterized the action as a “pro-Hamas rally” and decried “rising antisemitism in San Francisco and around the country,” while ignoring the mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza and targeting of Palestinian communities and allies in the U.S.

We condemn other acts of violence and harassment that Muslims and immigrants are facing across the country. We grieve the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian child in Illinois who was recently stabbed to death by his family’s landlord for being Muslim. As ICE and the FBI step up their surveillance, criminalization, and detention of Palestinian and Muslim communities, we also denounce the ongoing role of the U.S. immigration and national security apparatus in repressing and inciting fear amongst members of the immigrant community. We demand the urgent protection of our beloved Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab immigrant communities, along with all immigrant communities.

As immigration attorneys and organizers, we add our voices to the chorus of human rights lawyers and global humanitarian organizations who condemn Israel’s state-sanctioned violence against Palestinians. At this very moment, Israel is committing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza take place against a backdrop of the Israeli occupation’s accelerating violence and impunity.

Most of our team members, clients, and community members are originally from countries where there is a history of U.S. and Western imperial powers intervening for financial and political gain, and we are horrified as we watch the U.S. continue to do so in Palestine. Rather than call for an immediate ceasefire, the U.S. has vowed to transfer billions in emergency military aid to Israel. This is in addition to the $3.8 billion the U.S. already sends Israel in military aid each year. While international consensus has emerged that the Israeli occupation amounts to apartheid, U.S. military aid, training, and diplomatic support continue to make the Israeli occupation possible. In turn, U.S. surveillance and criminalization of marginalized and minoritized people, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, benefit from intelligence and technology sharing, security cooperation, and joint law enforcement trainings with Israel. Pangea rejects this continuing U.S. complicity in Israeli apartheid and occupation, just as we reject U.S. and other imperial forces fueling violence globally.

We honor and celebrate the history of transnational solidarities with Palestine, including Black and Indigenous solidarity movements. We affirm the common humanity and dignity of Palestinians and all people. We know that our complicity in oppression anywhere has ripple effects for all oppressed people. That is why Pangea’s work alongside immigrant communities is connected to liberation struggles everywhere. We feel acutely the urgency of expressing our support now, in this time of extreme backlash, loss, and pain for Palestinians and other oppressed people. We move, in hope and rage, from an unshakeable belief that liberation is possible. Free Palestine.

###

Annotated Sources on Israel’s October 2023 War on Gaza:

###

CALLS TO ACTION: 

TAKE ACTION

DONATE

LEARN MORE

Work Permit Lawsuit Ends After Successful Advocacy Efforts, Government Pushed to Process Work Permit Applications Faster

“Thanks to the efforts of our partners and counsel in Casa v. Mayorkas, over the last three years more than 100,000 asylum seekers, including many Pangea clients, were able to work to support themselves and their families while their asylum cases remained pending,” said Gladys Hernandez, Immigration Attorney & Co-Director. "Pangea is proud to have stepped up as an organizational plaintiff in this case, and will continue to fight alongside our clients and community against racist Trump and Biden administration policies that seek to restrict the fundamental right to move and resettle with dignity."

Link to Press Release: https://mailchi.mp/asylumadvocacy.org/release-work-permit-lawsuit-ends-after-successful-advocacy-from-asylum-seekers 

PRESS RELEASE: YUBA-ICE CONTRACT OFFICIALLY OVER

PRESS RELEASE - Yuba Liberation Coalition

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

February 8, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE: YUBA-ICE CONTRACT OFFICIALLY OVER

Advocates and supporters plan community celebration commemorating end of lucrative contract

MARYSVILLE, CA – On December 9, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) along with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department announced the long-awaited termination of the Yuba-ICE contract in California, the last of its kind in the state. The contract, which was set to expire in the year 2099 and generated over $8.6 million a year for the county, will officially end this Wednesday, February 8, 2023. This announcement prompted DHS to initiate its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which consolidates the steps Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) staff shall take when terminating a detention facility, either by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the private contractor. 

During this 60-day period, ICE violated the SOP when they transferred the remaining two individuals to the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, owned and operated by the GEO Group, in Bakersfield, CA, without a meaningful review of their cases. See SOP, supra, at section E.1.b. At least one individual has been needlessly detained for over 90 days even though he was granted relief from removal by an immigration judge in October 2022. The second individual was transferred hundreds of miles away despite the fact they are originally from Yuba County and have a plan in place to ensure a safe release to their community. 

“Closure efforts can no longer be accompanied by the practice of transfers if the Biden administration is serious about creating a more humane immigration system,” said the Yuba Liberation Coalition. “This administration must do a better job at divesting from multi-billion dollar contracts with counties and private prison corporations and investing in community development and universal legal access. We will continue to amplify the efforts to shut down the remaining six ICE detention facilities in California, all privately owned and operated.”

The Yuba Liberation Coalition will host a community celebration on Sunday, March 19, 2023, outside of the Yuba County Jail to commemorate the end of the inhumane and lucrative contract.

###

The Yuba Liberation Coalition, previously the #FreeTheYuba11 Coalition, began in April 2021. The coalition has two goals: release everyone detained at Yuba County Jail and end the contract between Yuba County and ICE. Members of the Yuba Liberation Coalition include: ACLU of Northern California, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Carlos Sauceda, Faithful Friends, and Pangea Legal Services

PRESS RELEASE - Advocates Continue to Push for Afghan Adjustment Act Following Omnibus Ommission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 17, 2022

Washington, DC          

Contact: (202) 527-9704, media@projectanar.org


Congress Failed to Include the Afghan Adjustment Act in December Omnibus, but Advocates Continue to Push for Floor Amendment

Project ANAR (Afghan Network for Advocacy and Resources), in response to the Afghan Adjustment Act not being attached to the December 2022 Omnibus Spending Bill, releases the following statement:

The Afghan Adjustment Act would follow the historical precedent of offering protection to communities following U.S. wartime evacuations. It would allow adjudicators to focus their resources on Afghans urgently seeking refuge, expand protections, and enact an oversight mechanism. Congress can still do right by Afghans and the diverse coalition of bipartisan Senators, Representatives, veterans, diplomats, businesses, editorial boards across the political spectrum, and faith groups who support them, by passing the Afghan Adjustment Act as a floor amendment to the omnibus.

Laila Ayub, Project ANAR Co-Founder and Immigration Attorney, said the following:

“It is shameful if a small group of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim Senators and staffers have been enough of an obstacle to prevent the Afghan Adjustment Act’s inclusion in the December omnibus. We stand firm in the belief that we can hold true to our values while advocating for our community. Perceptions of Afghans, Muslims, and immigrants as a threat to public safety are the reason for the barriers Afghans face, the reason pathways are so limited for Afghans, and the reason that an Afghan Adjustment Act is needed in the first place. They are rooted in racism, not reality. We refuse to accept that the path forward requires us to validate the values of those who reject our humanity. The failure of Senator Grassley and others to deliver this needed measure for Afghans shows that they do not even value the voices of veterans and their own constituents.

We urge our community not to panic. Everyone pushing for this bill has been busy filling gaps left by the government’s inaction for the last two years. We have been gearing up to meet the needs of newly arrived Afghans to obtain permanent status and family reunification. We hold out hope that Congress will do the right thing and offer a pathway for Afghans. We urge Senator Schumer to support the Afghan Adjustment Act as a floor amendment to the December Omnibus.”

#####

Project ANAR is an Afghan community immigration justice organization formed and led by Afghan American women, in partnership with other immigration lawyers, that focuses on legal services, community education, and advocacy and engagement. Project ANAR’s objectives include obtaining permanent status for Afghans in the U.S., advocating for the expansion of pathways for those seeking refuge, and seeking an end to the systems that displace our community. Project ANAR works primarily in the Bay Area, CA and in the DMV region, but also engages in national level advocacy and legal services coalition work. It is fiscally sponsored by Pangea Legal Services, a 501(c)3 based in San Francisco, CA.

PRESS RELEASE - BREAKING: Yuba Contract Termination

PRESS RELEASE - Yuba Liberation Coalition
Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org

December 9, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BREAKING: LAST ICE CONTRACT WITH A CALIFORNIA COUNTY JAIL TERMINATED

Advocates and supporters urge safe releases of the four people detained at the Yuba County Jail, instead of transfers

MARYSVILLE, CA – On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the termination of their Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department (YCSD) to hold individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Yuba County Jail. The contract, which dates back to 1994, was the last contract between the federal agency and a county in California. There are currently four individuals detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail. 

“Directly impacted individuals, advocates and legal service providers have worked tirelessly for years to end the contract between ICE and the Yuba County Jail,” said the Yuba Liberation Coalition. “Today we proudly celebrate the end of a lucrative agreement that caused immense harm to our communities. We call for the immediate release of the remaining detained community members--we have depopulated the facility in the past without transfers and believe this is both possible and just.”

Yuba County Jail has operated under a federal-court-ordered consent decree since 1979 due to deficiencies in “medical and mental health care, staffing, grievances, and exercise and recreation.” Although the consent decree was amended due to minimal improvements in health and recreation conditions as well as disability access, recent reports by Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG), the court-appointed monitor of the consent decree, consistently show that Yuba County Jail remains persistently non-compliant with numerous provisions of the Amended Consent Decree, particularly with regard to inadequate medical care. 

Yuba County Jail’s repeated record of violations of human rights and failed facility inspections prompted the California Congressional Delegation, led by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Lou Correa, to send a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on October 21, 2021, urging the federal government to terminate its IGSA with the county jail.

“A part of me can finally be at peace knowing that the place where I spent the worst two years of my life is finally closing,” said Carlos Sauceda, member of the Yuba Liberation Coalition who was detained at the Yuba County Jail between 2017-2019. “Today is a day of victory for those of us who were detained at Yuba County Jail, for our families and for the advocates who have fought to make this possible.” 

In 2018, after the state banned new contracts between local law enforcement and ICE, the government extended the IGSA with Yuba indefinitely, setting the date of expiration to the year 2099. The contract awarded the county jail located in Marysville, California over $8.6 million dollars of taxpayer money per year to detain individuals fighting their civil immigration cases.

The Yuba Liberation Coalition will continue to work to ensure that the remaining community members in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail retain legal representation and are released to their communities instead of being transferred to another ICE facility. 

###

The Yuba Liberation Coalition, previously the #FreeTheYuba11 Coalition, began in April 2021. The coalition has two goals: release everyone detained at Yuba County Jail and end the contract between Yuba County and ICE. Members of the Yuba Liberation Coalition include, but are not limited to: ACLU of Northern California, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Carlos Sauceda, Faithful Friends, and Pangea Legal Services


PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde & Golden State Labor Strikers Collective and Leaders Detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility

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

Esperanza Cuautle Velazquez | 415-271-5644 | advocate[@]pangealegal.org

Alex Mensing | 619-432-6378 | alexm[@]innovationlawlab.org


September 14, 2022


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


BREAKING: Detained Leaders file simultaneous federal complaints against ICE, GEO Group & MTC

The federal complaints detail retaliation, medical negligence, and other abuses at three detention centers in California


CALIFORNIA — Labor strikers at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, owned and operated by The GEO Group, and Leaders detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility, operated by Management and Training Corporation, released the following statement:


“Today, a collective of leaders and individuals detained at multiple facilities in California, filed two simultaneous complaints to the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties outlining the continued retaliation we face at the hands of ICE officials and its private prison operators for exercising our constitutional rights. Those officials have taken aggressive steps to try to suppress our voice, including attempts to transfer us out of state and unlawful placement in solitary confinement. The retaliation we face is also manifested through the delayed or out-right denial of proper medical care. These facilities operate by instilling fear and intimidation so that we do not speak out against these abuses. We stand united and will continue to raise our voices to hold these facilities accountable.


We understand that these are not isolated incidents. Complaints of this kind are filed against ICE and its private prison operators frequently across the country. In fact, this is the second such complaint filed to this office in a single year for the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, and the second complaint in eight months for the Imperial Regional Detention Facility. Additionally, the incidents described in these complaints are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the abuse, neglect, and retaliation that goes on in ICE detention. Many abuses go unreported due to fear or other barriers.

This is why we demand meaningful action from federal officials. They must launch a full and transparent investigation into the pattern of retaliation, recommend that ICE terminate its contracts with GEO Group and MTC, and recommend that funds that fuel detention be reinvested into community resources and programming.


We call on Members of Congress, particularly those from California, to ensure an investigation is conducted and completed without interruption or interference, as complaints and reports like this continue to supplement our calls for a complete shutdown of these facilities.


We call for the immediate release of all individuals detained at Mesa Verde, Golden State Annex, and Imperial Regional Detention Facility so that we may heal with our loved ones from our traumatic experiences in these facilities and obtain the proper medical care we so desperately need.”


A copy of the complaints can be found here and here.

###

PRESS RELEASE - Mesa Verde & Golden State Labor Strikers Collective

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

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

July 14, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BREAKING: Detained Labor Strikers Sue GEO Group Over $1-A-Day Pay

A complaint was filed in federal court amidst retaliation and a COVID-19 outbreak

KERN COUNTY — Labor strikers at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and the Golden State Annex, owned and operated by The GEO Group, released the following statement:

“When we launched this labor strike at Mesa Verde 77 days ago and at Golden State Annex 37 days ago, our demands were clear: to cease the exploitation of our labor by paying workers according to CA minimum wage of $15 per hour, being treated with dignity and respect by the facility administration, and the improvement of substandard conditions we are forced to live in, in direct violation of the Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS). Our requests for meetings with facility administration and ICE to discuss ways to remedy the violations were done in good-faith, yet we were met with retaliation and aggressive behavior. In fact, the violations of the PBNDS and ERO’s Pandemic Response Requirements have accelerated the spread of COVID-19, where 11 of our dorm mates have tested positive for the virus. 

We want to be very clear: We are human beings and we have rights. GEO and ICE run these facilities with unchecked power. We are inspired in our fight by detained workers in Washington State, who sued GEO and won $17 million on back pay, and detained workers in Adelanto and Aurora, who are fighting for recognition of their rights as workers. We too are here to say that enough is enough. This lawsuit is not just about labor exploitation with the $1-a-day pay, it is about the never-ending list of violations that put our lives–and the lives of thousands across the country–at risk, and the dehumanization of immigrants. 

Despite the growing animosity the facility has against the individuals who refuse to participate in the ‘volunteer worker program,’ we will continue to explore any and all tools to ensure justice is served.” 

###

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.”

###

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. 

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. 

###