#detainees

Photo of a released detainee by Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times.

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Laurie Hertzel

Dear friends from outside the Twin Cities: Did you know that when the Feds detain you without cause at Whipple--protesters, observers, citizens, non-citizens, doesn't matter--they release you into the cold with no coat, no phone (they keep your phone--why???), no way to get home. You could freeze to death out there. But fortunately a group called Haven Watch is waiting, a bunch of volunteers who usher released detainees into their warm cars, give them coats, burner phones and something warm to drink and then call an uber to make sure they get home. They could use your support. So many could still use your support! Please do not think for one second that since Bovino is gone that things are better. They're not. Please do not forget about Minneapolis and its immigrants and its observers and its protesters and its people. They still need you! Last night, Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked with some kind of liquid sprayed at her as she addressed a town hall meeting. Imagine her courage, having a town hall meeting, something few Republican representatives do anymore! (Ask Tom Emmer when the last time was that he held a town hall meeting.) Yesterday, a Latina woman and her baby were detained "as a joke"--for two hours after the woman's cousin was taken. The cruelty, as they say, is the point. The video will make you cry--the woman screaming and crying, "Por que? Por que?" and the bewildered child holding an ice cream cone. THEY ARE NOT STOPPING and neither must we. If you live outside of Minnesota, PLEASE call your Congresspeople and ask them NOT to vote for ICE funding. They must stand firm on that. Bovino leaving is just theater; nothing has changed. I'm posting links in the comments to some places where you can donate. Photo of a released detainee by Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times. Thank you for listening, thank you for helping.

ICE says it provides 'proper meals.' Detainees see crystalized jelly, rancid beans and iced bologna

RICHWOOD, Louisiana – Months after leaving immigration detention, Camila Muñoz can still remember the ice-cream scooper used to ladle food onto plastic trays and the "sour feeling" after every meal.

Hunger.

"You have to eat no matter what, or the night is going to get you," she told USA TODAY. "We were really hungry."

In Louisiana – a major hub of the Trump administration's mass deportation effort – detainees and their representatives say people in custody are going hungry on a diet of processed foods that are barely edible, often expired and never filling.

(via Surge Signs Mount as Federal Contracts Reveal Major Expansion of ICE Detentions in Baltimore Region)

Inside the Fallon Building at 31 Hopkins Plaza in downtown Baltimore, where ICE operates its regional field office, attorneys and their clients say something has changed. Agents who previously went without visible weapons have begun appearing in tactical vests and holsters. Multiple people with direct experience at the building, speaking to this publication on condition of anonymity, described family separation occurring inside and recounted instances in which detainees were told they faced imminent deportation, only to be released hours later. Those who experienced it, they said, were left traumatized. One attorney — who represents clients held at the building and accompanies others to routine check-ins there, and who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution against their clients — said they had overheard ICE employees discussing plans to expand the agency’s presence in the Fallon Building onto additional floors.