FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Adriel Orozco (he/him, they/them), Phone: 505-209-3533 Email: aorozco@nmilc.org
Contact: Stephonae Nelson, Millions for Prisoners, Phone: 505-385-3577
On Friday, May 1st at 3:30pm New Mexicans will gather at 1430 Motel Dr., Milan, NM before heading to the Cibola County Correctional Facility to speak out against the continued detention of migrants and other community members, despite the serious risk posed by COVID-19.
For incarcerated people, including those in immigration detention, social distancing is impossible — there is scarce provision of hygiene supplies, and health care access is gravely inadequate. People in prisons and detention centers are highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses. Detention amidst the COVID-19 pandemic should not be a death sentence. Despite this fact, and the many lawsuits filed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the release of migrants, ICE and the for-profit companies that benefit from immigration detention, refuse to release migrants except in the rarest of occasions.
Doctors who act as medical experts for the Department of Homeland Security have sent warnings to Congress calling for alternatives to detention for immigrants, calling COVID-19 a “tinderbox scenario.” Their warning has started to materialize as ICE’s record of positive cases as of April 29th was 449 migrants (which no doubt grossly underestimates true numbers, given that ICE has tested less than 1,000 and detains roughly 32,000 migrants daily). Rather than testing people who have been exposed to COVID-19, ICE has left most of them in group quarantines until symptoms appear. Medical professions from across the state are joining community members at Cibola Friday to pressure officials to release people from immigration detention, given the devastating impacts on immigrants and the healthcare system if ICE detention populations are not dramatically reduced. Medical professions who submitted a letter with over 70 NM signatures to Gov MLG and city officials, and those who recently circulated a letter on behalf of medical professionals to ICE officials urging release, will be present on Friday, saying “the safest place for someone in custody to be is home.”
“the safest place for someone in custody to be is home.”
In recognition of May Day, these medical professionals and community members, with leadership from Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), Beyond Borders Caucus of The Red Nation, and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Albuquerque will meet at 3:30 pm at 1430 Motel Dr., Milan, NM and carpool to the Cibola County Correctional Facility (2000 Cibola Loop, Milan, NM). Participants will likely don signs in car windows demanding that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham release individuals held in NM prisons and jails, and put pressure on ICE to release people from immigration detention. Join us using the following hashtags:
#FreeThemAll
#AbolishICE
#EndDetention
#CantGetWellinACell
#GeneralStrike2020
#CoronaStrike
#StrikeForOurLives
#MayDay2020
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