Release
of La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ
from La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ
In a series of three letters, received over six weeks by Trans Queer Pueblo, 97 detained migrants paint a harrowing picture of extreme medical neglect, migrant resistance, and violent repression at the La Palma Correctional Facility in Eloy, AZ._cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b -136bad5cf58d_
The letters, sent at great risk to the personal safety of their signers, counter ICE's official claims that everything is under control at its facility. The letters also highlight the powerful organization of migrants that is taking place behind bars during the pandemic.
Trans Queer Pueblo demands that ICE immediately release the signatories of the letters, all LGBT+ migrants, and all migrants in ICE jails due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you received a letter from a migrant detained in an ICE detention center during the pandemic? Post it on social networks with #CartasXLiberación and tag @tqpueblo on Instagram & Twitter or @transqueerpueblo on Facebook.
For press questions, contact Stephanie a
steph.figgins@gmail.com
In a series of three letters, received over six weeks by Trans Queer Pueblo, 97 detained migrants paint a harrowing picture of extreme medical neglect, migrant-led protests, and violent repression at La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ.
The letters, sent at great risk to the personal safety of their signatories, counter ICE's official statements that everything is under control at their facilities. The letters also highlight the powerful migrant organizing taking place behind bars during the pandemic.
Trans Queer Pueblo calls on ICE to immediately release the letters' signatories, all LGBTQ+ migrants, and all migrants in ICE jails in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you received a letter from migrants in ICE detention during the pandemic? Post it to social media with #LettersForLiberation and tag @tqpueblo on Instagram & Twitter or @transqueerpueblo on Facebook.
For media inquiries, please contact Stephanie atsteph.figgins@gmail.com
May 18
"We are human beings, we don't want to die in here"
"We are human beings. We do not want to die here"
The most recent letter is signed by 29 migrants. It corroborates other accounts that social distancing is impossible in ICE facilities.
First and foremost, greetings and respect,
In these letters I would like to express the suffering that I and many details like me are going through here at La Palma.
We know that many cases of Covid-19 exist here at the prison and they are increasing every day.
We belong to a small group that is not in isolation because there is covid-19 in all the tanks or suspicions of many cases. We have been detained for a long time and have not yet finished since the courts are suspended; the minimum delay is 3 or 4 months.
We are not sure about the isolation measures. There are 120 of us in a small space and that is how the pandemic spreads faster. The entrance of personnel and other workers is the biggest source of danger of it entering the tank.
“There are 120 of us in a small space and that is how the pandemic spreads faster.”
We have been through two quarantines and we don't know for how long. We are asked to sleep opposite each other when we share the same air. The lack of information is depressing. We know nothing. ICE has no answer and our requests for parole are not answered. From our hearts, we ask for help. We are human beings.
We do not want to die here, please.
In the name of details at La Palma
please help,
Barboro Miguel Garcia Gonzalez
Denis Mons Valdés
Yaniel Morin Pentón
Yaniel Estrada Rizo
Ernesto de la Paz __
Deybi Aragón Garcia
Yasiel __
Ronny Sardiñas Machado
Ryel ____
Villanueva Dias Jose
Robiel Petit Batista
Hector A. Pérez Sánchez
Rodisnel Fong Quiñones
Nelson David C____ J__
Jorge F Ibarra Perez
Yoel Gonzalez Ventura
Jorge Luis Rodriguez
_____
OhHERE for the Spanish transcription
April 30
"They only prescribe water, for anything it is water"
"No matter the illness, they send us to drink water"
In this letter, thirty-two migrants with asthma, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic illnesses beg for humanitarian parole. They report they are forced to wait 15 days to see medical staff; and when they finally do, they are only prescribed water.
La Palma Correctional Center _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b -136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58 d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_date: April 30, 2020
8501 North La Palma Road
Eloy, AZ 85131
Warm greetings, may God bless you greatly, we are very grateful for your unconditional help, we address you in order to express our concerns.
As vulnerable detainees, isolated in the "Apache Alpha" tank inside the "La Palma" Correctional Center, located at 5501 North La Palma Road, Eloy, Arizona 85131, it is known that we have had several infected people inside the correctional center, all of us who are detained here suffer from illnesses such as
-
asthma
-
Diabetes
-
Anemia
-
Cancer
-
Lipomas
-
high blood pressure
These medical conditions make us more likely to contract the coronavirus, we have a deep fear of becoming infected and dying far from our families. There are 18 confirmed cases here at the Correctional Center. There are no hygienic conditions necessary to maintain good health or to avoid becoming infected. We have been isolated for over a month. ICE staff are not complying with the law they implemented on April 20, which establishes the release of all immigrants most vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus.
We are 32 people in isolation since we are the most vulnerable to contract the covid-19 in which there are #17 Cubans, #1 from Guatemala, #7 Mexicans, #2 from Venezuela, #1 from Cameroon, #1 from the Philippines , 1# from Africa, 1# from Bangladesh and 1# from Honduras. Please give this letter to Telemundo and all the corresponding organizations so that they can help us, we are afraid of dying in this place, and so that this letter can go viral so that the world can see the injustice that the ICE authorities are committing against us for the simple reason that we are immigrants, even with a law passed by a Federal Judge in the State of California that applies to all the states, but they still do not want to release us. Most of us have been in jail for 6 months or more at La Palma Correctional Center in the State of Arizona.
“so that the world can see the injustice that the ICE authorities are committing against us for the simple reason that we are immigrants”
In Maricopa County there are over 1000 cases of coronavirus, it's the most infected county in Arizona and close to the Correctional Center here where Core Civic workers live. Here, in detention, doctors do not attend us in a timely way, when we are sick or injured, they tell us to send a request. When we send the request it takes 4 to 15 days for them to come and check us, and they only prescribe us water. No matter the illness, they send us to drink water. The lack of professionalism and care on the part of doctors is clear to us, we need your help. We are people who have families who are concerned about our situation and state of health with this virus that still has no cure. For these reasons, we would like to ask ICE to make a gesture of humanity with us. Those of us who are requesting this humanitarian parole, comply with all the requirements that ICE requests, we do not have criminal charges, we do not present a risk of escape, nor are we a risk to the community, nor are we going to make a public burden on this country, since our families are willing to take responsibility for us financially, as well as to take responsibility for us to appear in court and be deported if necessary.
For all of these reasons, all of us who are signing this letter have agreed to serve as witnesses and testify against ICE for not complying with the law.
Once again we ask for your help as soon as possible, the more days that go by the more risk we run of being infected with Covid-19. Thank you and God bless you all.
OhHEREfor the Spanish transcription
April 16
"The officers entered... firing paintball bullets and tear gas at us"
"They shot at us with paintball bullets and tear gas."
This letter, signed by 36 migrants, recounts how guards used rubber bullets and teargas in retaliation against peaceful hunger strikers demanding more information about the coronavirus.
OhHEREfor the Spanish transcription
We ask for help
Trans Queer People
I Joel Edgardo Cornejo Mercado (A# XXXXXXXX) write this letter to explain our situation.
Between approximately the 26th and 28th of March people started to become infected with COVID-19 in the Tewa Charlie Tank. They were moved and the other residents of that tank were placed in quarantine, leaving the tank empty. Later on in the week people became infected in the Tewa Bravo Tank, creating panic in our tank - Tewa Alpha. We asked for information from the personnel. They did not give us any concrete answers. How could we not be afraid of a sickness that could end our lives? On Saturday 4/11/20 between 2 and 3:30PM a person got sick in Tewa Bravo Tank. Since the personnel would not give us any information the residents of Tewa Alpha Tank decided to carry out a peaceful strike without causing harm to anyone. We only asked to speak with an ICE official. The official agreed to talk to us and we had the chance to talk to him. But, before the ICE official arrived, employees of La Palma Correctional Center were armed. We spoke with the ICE official. He asked if we were going to go into our cells. We all said yes, since we were not doing anything wrong. He said that they would not hurt us and that an officer who worked in the detention center would come and lock us into our cells and we said that it was fine. Many of us went by ourselves into our cells while a few of us waited for the official. But, when the supposed ICE official left between 8:30 and 9:15 the officials of La Palma Detention Center came in. They shot at us with paintball bullets and tear gas, causing me a lot of harm. I was struck with paintball bullets, causing me a lot of harm and leaving me psychologically traumatized. Many of the other detainees also suffered in different ways.
“We asked for information from [the guards.] They did not give us any concrete answers. How could we not be afraid of a sickness that could end our lives?”
In this letter we denounce the abuse of authority that we have suffered. They told us that they would not harm us because everything we did was peaceful. We ask for the support of the organization because all of our complaints were rejected, since they don't want anyone to find out what happened. We are attaching a sheet of signatures with our A numbers so that you can see how many of us were affected and how many complaints there are. There were cameras. We ask that you review them or ask for the video footage from that date. Since they abused their power as authority we are afraid of retaliation since they don't want us to denounce what happened. We ask for help as soon as you can. Thank you and may God bless you.
The signatures of 39 migrants detained at La Palma Correctional Center.