FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2024
MEDIA CONTACTS: Alex Mensing, alex[@]ccijustice.org, 415-684-5463
Raya Steier, rsteier[@]lccrsf.org, 530-723-2426
***PRESS RELEASE***
Immigrants in California ICE Detention Center File Civil Rights Complaint After Private Prison Guards Respond to Peaceful Protests with Violent Raid, Pepper Spray, Solitary Confinement
“Everyone get the fuck down on the floor!” yelled a guard at Golden State Annex in McFarland, California, according to the survivors of the raid
McFarland, California — Immigrant justice groups have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Liberties (CRCL) on behalf of a group of detained immigrants who were attacked by guards who raided the A4 dormitory of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Center in McFarland, California early in the morning of April 15, 2024. During the raid, guards working for the for-profit prison contractor GEO Group (GEO) physically assaulted the people in their custody, destroyed their personal property, used pepper spray indiscriminately, verbally abused them and committed additional violations. The complaint was filed on behalf of the detained people by the ACLU of Northern California, the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF).
The violent raid came just days after the vast majority of dorm A4 participated in two peaceful sit-ins to protest overcrowding, inhumane living conditions, and deprivation of basic necessities such as toilet paper, ice, and cold water during extreme heat. Rather than addressing these conditions–which violate detention standards–ICE’s contractors decided to storm the A4 dorm while most people were still asleep, wearing helmets and masks, holding shields in one hand and tanks of pepper spray in the other. They pepper-sprayed, zip-tied, and assaulted individuals who were already on the ground. One detained individual described the raid, saying the guards "behaved as though they were going to war."
One survivor, B-, described the raid’s devastating mental health impacts: “I have intense panic when I see officers enter the dorm. I go to my bed and don’t look towards the officers. I begin to tremble [and] I have nightmares of that incident. This does enter my mind frequently and I wonder why they did it. I wonder to myself ‘Is it going to happen again?’ When I have to go to my psych visit or to medical, I become panicked because I know I’m going to have to interact with the officers.”
Those who had previously organized dorm A4’s sit-ins were placed in solitary confinement, where they were held for prolonged periods, subjected to physical assault and sexual harassment, and informed that they could be released only if they “stop all the protesting and standing up for people.” For over a month, they spent a minimum of 22 hours daily in isolation, a practice amounting to torture according to the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules.
“We need to stop ICE and the GEO corporation. They should end the ICE contract with GEO for this facility along with the abuse of force and discrimination,” said Michael Cruz Lezama, a survivor of the raid who was born in Nicaragua, has lived in California for over a decade, and has been detained at Golden State for 15 months. “I should be given the opportunity to be released to the community to be alongside my family and loved ones. I shouldn’t have to suffer from retaliation and physical harm by GEO and the administration for expressing my opinion, my religion, and standing up for my rights. Help me end the abuse.”
"This is not the first time ICE and GEO have chosen to respond with shocking levels of violence to even the most basic calls for humane treatment by the people in their custody,” said Mariel Villarreal, Senior Attorney with CCIJ. “At Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex, detained people have consistently reported inhumane treatment and retaliation by officers, and the federal government's insistence on keeping them locked up under terrible conditions is what is driving people to resort to labor and hunger strikes to call for justice. Our communities stand with the people who survived the A4 raid. We call on ICE to free them and for immigrant detention to come to an end."
The inhumane conditions that A4 residents were protesting in April continue to this day, leading dozens of immigrants detained at Golden State and the nearby Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, also operated by GEO, to relaunch ongoing labor and hunger strikes starting in July to call for the termination of the facilities’ contracts and the release of the people detained there, with free phone calls, improved conditions, and an end to solitary confinement in the meantime. Detained individuals describe the internal grievance system as “useless” and are also protesting the $1-a-day pay for essential work they perform inside the facility. These renewed strikes echo protests at the two detention centers from 2022 and 2023 over similar problems, and Members of Congress have also expressed concerns over conditions there.
As of August 1, 2024, ICE has discontinued free legal phone calls for individuals detained at these two facilities, significantly restricting detained individuals’ ability to seek legal services and report human rights violations in detention.
"The raid on the A4 dormitory at Golden State Annex is a stark reminder that immigration detention is far from ‘civil.’ This violent response to peaceful protest highlights a deep failure to respect the basic human needs of those in custody. We call on the federal government to take immediate action—release the video footage of that day, free the survivors, end ICE’s contract with GEO Group, and ensure that no one else is subjected to such cruelty. The time for accountability is now." said Victoria Petty, Staff Attorney with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition to the demands of the strikers listed above, the complaint makes several asks of the federal government:
Ensure that the survivors of the A4 Raid are made whole, including by:
Releasing those who are still in ICE custody, and arranging for parole into the United States for those whose decisions to accept deportation orders were influenced by the raid;
Returning or adequately compensating them for their disappeared property; and
Providing compensation and medical/mental health treatment for the physical and mental injuries caused by the raid.
Consider this complaint as part of DHS’s review of the ICE detention system;
Prohibit ICE from detaining people at Golden State and end its contract with GEO related to this facility immediately;
Recommend that the PBNDS is revised, as indicated immediately below:
Eliminate the provision of PBNDS § 3.1(A) that penalizes “engaging in or inciting a group demonstration.”
Revise PBNDS §§ 2.10(II)(7) & (V)(D)(2)(b) to require individualized reasonable suspicion, based on specific, articulable facts, for any bodily search more intrusive than a limited pat down, including any search in which a person is required to undress to any degree.
Revise PBNDS § 2.10 (V)(D)(2)(a) to clarify that an officer must complete a G-1025 (“Record of Search”) for any bodily search more intrusive than a pat down, including any search in which a person is required to undress to any degree.
Propose the publication of all use of force incidents in all immigration detention facilities; and
Urge ICE to produce all records related to the A4 Raid as requested to ICE’s Freedom of Information Act Office by undersigned author LCCRSF, including but not limited to all audio and video recordings related to the events described in above.
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