Many of the people ICE disappears from Utah end up in Tacoma, Washington, at the Northwest Detention Center. The facility is operated by a publicly traded company CEO Group.
I learned recently that folks on the inside are on a hunger strike, again. What other option do they have to communicate with those of us on the outside other than to refuse to eat so maybe it makes the next news cycle?
It’s not like they weren’t starving anyway with the notoriously insufficient and rotten foods provided. In our architecture of homeland security, we have decided to outsource the responsibility of ensuring human rights for our neighbors to a company that answers only to shareholders.
The cynic in me just sees this institutionalized neglect as a way to funnel more outside money into the absurdly expensive commissary accounts that are needed to even get close to the caloric intake of a growing child or a pregnant woman. Don’t even get me started on the cost of a phone call; you would think it’s a satellite phone in 1995.
We absolutely must hear the hunger strike as the communication that it is: Enough! People are dying in these conditions! Our laws demand due process! Immigrants deserve dignified treatment! And the citizens deserve justice for the flagrant abuse of power and law!
Jake Trimble, Salt Lake City