Hundreds of immigrant detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey marked a week of hunger and labor strike while ICE agents and prison guards retaliated against protesters inside and outside the facility. The crackdown included attacking detainees with pepper spray and batons, transferring strike leaders out of the facility, and arresting people gathered outside the jail. The jail is staffed by private prison company GEO Group. Organizers said ICE and GEO dispersed gas unit by unit and beat people up in retaliation for organizing and for exercising freedom of speech through hunger and labor strikes. The organizer criticized New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill for limited visits and for not launching an investigation into jail conditions.
"We are here today because we got information from inside that's telling us that ICE and GEO are going unit by unit, and they're dispersing gas, and they're beating people up. Right now, we have already heard that they have gone through all of the units. This is retaliation for the organizing, for the freedom of speech, that they [the strikers] exercise as they do their hunger strike, as they do their labor strike."
"It is very infuriating that we let ICE and GEO do whatever the hell they want. It's infuriating to see humanity die inside when these ICE agents are teargassing indiscriminately against people who are exercising their constitutional rights,"
"The anti-strike crackdown has included attacking detainees with pepper spray and batons, transferring strike leaders out of the facility, and arresting protestors who have gathered outside the jail, which is staffed by private prison company GEO group."
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]