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| 12/25 |
| 2004/8/21 [Politics/Domestic/Immigration] UID:33056 Activity:nil |
8/20 Wackenhut Detention Center:
http://www.samsloan.com/sivajini.htm
http://www.notinourname.net/detentions/ny-hunger-strike-31oct03.htm
http://www.lifeorliberty.org/libertyblog/archives/000026.html
http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=04/08/16/1415245
http://www.heatherratcliff.writernetwork.com/AsylumSeekers.html
\_ I'm not going to read your links because I already know too
much about wackenhut, and I'll be pissed off all day if I read
about them now. Those cocksuckers are actually doing the security
at the statue of liberty ferry now. Oh, the irony. |
| 12/25 |
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| www.samsloan.com/sivajini.htm Sri Lankan Refugee Family Just Released from INS Detention Center Sivajini Kadambarathnam and her son, Rajakumar, were held in separate detention for months after arriving from Sri Lanka. A report released in May indicates that the number of days asylum seekers remain in detention is higher in New York than anywhere else in the nation. The study, prepared by the International Human Rights and Migration Project of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, revealed that by the time the study ended, the average number of days in detention for detainees in New York was 92, while for detainees in San Francisco the average was 44 and for those in Miami it was 62. That is what happened to Sivajini Kadambarathnam, 35, and her 13-year-old son, Rajakumar. The two were stopped on March 12, upon arrival at Kennedy Airport without documents from Sri Lanka, and ordered detained, her immigration records show. But because no children are allowed in the Wackenhut detention center in Jamaica, Queens, Rajakumar was sent to a center for juveniles in Miami. "I cried and cried and cried," said Mrs Kadambarathnam, who fled her country after her husband was taken away by the military last year. If immigration authorities doubt the validity of Political Asylum claims, perhaps they could talk to this lady about it. This photo was taken at Kotiyagala, Sri Lanka Immigration officials said they were willing to release the boy, but not the mother, to sponsors. But the sponsor would not take the boy by himself, so the two remained in detention but separated, one of her lawyers, Eileen Collins Bretz, said. The INS said the two were separated because minors were not allowed in the New York detention center. Mrs Kadambarathnam was granted political asylum and released on June 2, after nearly three months in detention. In Miami, where the influx of Haitian and Central American immigrants seldom lets up, the Krome detention center routinely releases asylum seekers who can show they have a place to stay, said Stacey Taeuber, a pro-bono lawyer who works with detainees. The policy was different last year: to be released on parole, asylum seekers needed to post a $5,000 bond. |
| www.notinourname.net/detentions/ny-hunger-strike-31oct03.htm New York detainees on hunger strike The 200-bed facility ... holds immigrants while their asylum applications are being processed, which sometimes takes years. No one in the detention center is charged with or suspected of a crime. Immigration News Briefs Nicaragua Solidarity Network October 31, 2003 About 180 asylum seekers being held by immigration authorities at the Wackenhut Detention Center near JFK airport in Queens, New York, have been on hunger strike since Oct. "We have heard that all of the men at the facility have been engaging in a hunger strike to protest the length of their detention and jail-like conditions," Eleanor Acer, asylum program director at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said on Oct. "They seem prepared to go as long as they possibly can," said Manhattan resident Marie Viola. Viola works with Sojourners Ministry, a Riverside Church volunteer group which visits detainees at Wackenhut every week. According to Mark Thorn, a spokesperson for the New York office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), 46 of the 112 men held at Wackenhut refused to eat breakfast on Oct. Thorn said none of the 27 women at the detention center were participating in the protest. The detainees have not presented a list of demands, but advocates say they are seeking release on parole while their asylum cases proceed. The 200-bed facility, a former cargo warehouse, is owned by the Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. and operated under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It holds immigrants while their asylum applications are being processed, which sometimes takes years. No one in the detention center is charged with or suspected of a crime. Last year Group 4 Falck A/S of Denmark acquired a controlling interest in Wackenhut Corrections when it bought the prison management firm's 49-year old parent company, Wackenhut Corp. Earlier this year, Wackenhut Corrections bought back that stake for $132 million, with the agreement that it would drop the Wackenhut name. In November, Wackenhut Corrections will ask its shareholders to approve a name change to The Geo Group Inc.. |
| www.lifeorliberty.org/libertyblog/archives/000026.html ABA Report Finds Two-tiered Justice System for American Immigrants, Eroding Due Process August 16, 2004 Detainees begin hunger strike to demand human rights Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 15:45:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Ahsanullah khan Subject: August 16 Wackenhut hunger strike: press conference at 26 Federal Plaza PRESS ADVISORY Date: August 14th 2004 Contact: Madiha Tahir, Coney Island Avenue Project, (609) 439-1982 DETAINEES BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE TO DEMAND RIGHTS 200 immigrant detainees, who have been held despite the absence of criminal charges against them, will begin a one-day hunger strike at Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens to demand a case review and immediate release of non-criminal prisoners. What: A press conference to announce a one day hunger strike by 200 immigrant detainees at Wackenhut Detention Center to demand the right to humane treatment, the right to due process, the right to access appropriate medical healthcare, the right to case review and immediate release of non-criminal prisoners, and family reunification. Speakers will include families of detainees and immigrants rights advocates. Where: 26 Federal Plaza on Broadway between Duane and Worth (Manhattan) More Information: None of the prisoners currently being held at Wackenhut Detention Center have any terrorism related or other criminal charges against them. Yet, they are locked for 23 hours per day and several have been there for close to a year or more. These detainees were picked up in the aftermath of 911 and have been held without criminal charge or due process, and in some cases, without access to a lawyer or access to appropriate food and medical healthcare. The government refuses to release information on immigrant detentions. None of the immigrant detentions since 911 have yielded any useful results for Bush's "war on terror." Private detention centers, of which Wackenhut is one, are earning large profits from the detention of immigrants and the current climate of racism against Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and immigrants generally. For example, detainees are being pressured to buy cafeteria food as the food served at the center is often insufficient and inadequate. A previous hunger strike by inmates at Wackenhut ended with some prisoners being thrown in solitary confinement while others were transferred to other detention centers. so was wondering if he was in any of the detention centers. Or maybe if you can give me a list and can look for him. i'll be very much thankful to u all if u can help me out. This material is made available to advance understanding of, inter alia, human rights, legal, political, foreign policy and social justice issues. The publisher of this website believes this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law and in other applicable legislation. In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, the material on this site may be distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Permission is granted to make use of any editorial material on this site provided that the source is acknowledged. |
| www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=04/08/16/1415245 sid=04/08/16/1415245 Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have entered the second day of a hunger strike to protest conditions in Israeli jails. Meanwhile in New York 200 immigrant detainees are staging a one-day hunger strike at the Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens. published a series of demands issued by the hunger-strikers. They include: * Ending the policy of stripping prisoners naked while conducting physical searches. Meanwhile in New York 200 immigrant detainees are staging a one-day hunger strike at the Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens. The detainees are demanding the government review their case and for the immediate release of non-criminal detainees. According to a press release issued by Khan: "None of the prisoners currently being held at Wackenhut Detention Center have any terrorism related or other criminal charges against them. Yet, they are locked for 23 hours per day and several have been there for close to a year or more. These detainees were picked up in the aftermath of 911 and have been held without criminal charge or due process, and in some cases, without access to a lawyer or access to appropriate food and medical healthcare. AMY GOODMAN: Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have entered the second day of a hunger strike to protest conditions in Israeli jails. Meanwhile in New York, 200 immigrant detainees are staging a one-day hunger strike at a Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens. The detainees demanding the government review their cases and for the immediate release of non-criminal detainees. First we go to the Middle East, to Basim Sbeih from the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Can you tell us about this strike and how many people are involved? With their empty stomachs, the prisoners want to fly the message of the Palestinian human being to the whole of the world. This -- their message is the message of the tortured and those withheld under the life of the occupiers. The prisoners leave their destiny entrusted in the hands of people with compassion and dignity and those who believe in the right of every human being to be free. They call upon the free of the world to live up to their responsibility of defending dignified, humiliation free and torture free lives for every individual on this earth. AMY GOODMAN: We're also joined by Bobby Khan from the Coney Island Avenue Project, talking about protests, a fast, a one-day hunger strike that's taking place at the Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens. AMY GOODMAN: We have a second guest on the line who is going to talk about another strike that is taking place, this at a detention center in New York. I just wanted to inform that this morning, 200 detainees in Wackenhut Detention Center, mostly from -- these are new immigrants, and they are demanding human treatment. They're demanding their cases to be reviewed immediately. And all of them were arrested as an aftermath of 9/11, but no one is charged with any criminal offense or Bush war on terrorism, and they have nothing to do with that, but they are people of color. AMY GOODMAN: Bobby Khan, we are going to have to leave it there. |
| www.heatherratcliff.writernetwork.com/AsylumSeekers.html He was in Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens, New York. Kamwa, like many other people arriving in the United States seeking political asylum, was not technically a criminal. His only alleged offense was entering the country without the proper documents, such as a passport. But advocacy groups say asylum seekers are typically treated like accused criminals -- or sometimes worse than accused criminals are treated -- while waiting for the courts to hear their requests to remain in this country. Besides the 200-bed detention center in Queens, asylum seekers are held at similar centers in New Jersey, Texas, California, Arizona and other states. In contrast to criminal defendants who are usually released on bail pending court appearances, most asylum seekers are confined in dormitory-style rooms at detention centers until their cases are heard. In his native Cameroon, Kamwa, now 30, first went to prison in 1991 for public protests against that country's rulers. Over the next several years he was in and out for prison -- and sometimes tortured -- for continuing protests. "They were going to kill me," Kamwa said, adding that government supporters already had killed his grandfather, his father, his mother and his older brother for their dissident activities. Kamwa, despite speaking little English, told immigration officers at John F Kennedy Airport that he had a fake passport, and he was handcuffed to a bench from 7:30 pm until 10 am "I was crying and crying," he said. At 10 am he was taken in chains to the detention center. Kamwa said he came to America with high hopes, but it was difficult to remain hopeful during his five months in the detention center. "The officers here will treat you as if you were a dog," he said. A college graduate with a degree in philosophy in his own country, the best job he could find was as a sales associate at an Old Navy store. A number of advocacy groups believe Kamwa and other asylum seekers are treated too harshly. Detainees spend 22 hours a day inside a 40-room dormitory. Tables are in another corner near a TV with beds in-between. One hour is delegated for indoor recreation, which includes ping-pong and other similar games, and one hour is for "outdoor" recreation. Outdoor recreation is in an inside room with an open skylight where detainees can play basketball or volleyball. in some centers, they are only an hour on Saturday and Sunday. The INS say they aim for detainees to be out of the center in 90 days, said Carol Fouke, chair of Sojourners, a branch of Jesuit Refugee Service. In reality, it is usually at least five months, sometimes even years, she said. Jesuit Refugee Service has been sending volunteers to visit detainees at Elizabeth Detention Center since 1997. These volunteers act as friends to the detainees, who sometimes don't have any family in the area. John Vanier, a Sojourners volunteer for the past four years, does not believe the system treats asylum seekers justly. Vanier has been visiting Mohamed Mubarak, 29, from Sri Lanka since Mubarak arrived in the country three years ago. Since then, he has been shipped back and forth between four prisons in Pennsylvania. Asylum seekers are sometimes housed in prisons instead of detention centers. "How long can you keep your spirits up without knowing what's going to happen?" said Carrie Dirks, a Sojourners volunteer since November 1999. The detainee she visits has been at Elizabeth for four years. At first, Dirks said, the detainee had hope, but "now that is taking its toll on her," said Dirks. In some ways, it is worse than being in a prison, she said, because at least prisoners know when they are going to get out. In detention centers, their lives are "in limbo," she said. "If people really knew what was going on, they wouldn't stand for it," Dirks said. Kamwa said he eventually plans to write about his experience in Cameroon and in the detention center. But the most important thing now is getting somewhere to live, he said. |