Día de los Muertos day of protest, celebration, solidarity in Tacoma

Tacoma, WA – On November 1, La Resistencia held its 11th annual Día de los Muertos protest and celebration in front of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), a privately-owned detention facility with a number of reports of human rights abuses lodged against it over its 20 years of operation.

The event focused on honoring the lives lost due to poor treatment of people detained, shining light on the struggles currently being undertaken for freedom of those imprisoned, and the years-long fight to shut down the facility.

The event, hosted by La Resistencia and supported by other local organizations including Pierce County Immigration Alliance (PCIA) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), had speakers, an ofrenda altar, and a procession to the entrance gate of the facility. The event honored the 25 lives lost across the U.S. due to immigration enforcement and detention facility mistreatment and neglect.

“We don’t care about where they came from, we don’t care about what they did, they’re humans in a cage and they should all be free,” said Maru Mora-Villalpando of La Resistencia.

Claire Thomas, a member of FRSO, told the crowd, “It is capitalists who profit from immigration terror. The investors in GEO group, who run this facility, make money for every person in that facility. They encourage ICE to arrest as many people as possible in order to detain them so they can fill their pockets. Only by uniting every part of the people’s movements can we truly stand a chance against the capitalists.” FRSO demands an end to anti-immigration terror and racial profiling, the end of the border militarization, and full equality, and access to government services for immigrants.

The detention center has extensive reports from detainees and community organizations of poor conditions within the facility, including lack of access to sufficient medical care, as well as poor food and water quality.

“The food arrives three hours late; bugs, mold, and metal have been found in the food. We have been told they have been served raw, bloody chicken. The only water they have access to is water from the sinks. The water comes out brown, tastes like metal or like Clorox,” said Perla Velasquez of La Resistencia.

Speakers also emphasized the strength and fight of those detained within the detention center itself. “Inside, Steven Chavarria Portillo is taking his life into his hands by participating in a hunger strike – an action that cries out for recognition of the inherent value of another human being’s life. We demand his demands be met immediately: to be out of isolation, to receive medical treatment, and a full investigation of the officers involved in retaliating against him,” said Rie Guerrero of the Pierce County Immigration Alliance (PCIA or La Alianza.

The Pierce County Immigration Alliance is holding another event later this November to highlight a proposed ordinance in the city of Seattle that would ban ICE agents from wearing masks to cover their faces while on duty, and encouraging more cities and municipalities to take it up.

The fight for immigration justice continues!

#TacomaWA #WA #ImmigrantRights