Protesting/Rallying At Family Detention Center As Hunger Strike Starts/Immigration part #1

( A sequel to this piece is here - read this one first)


I was invited to this event. Code name was "tamale sale," I guess to avoid tipping off the detention center. Turns out it was this hunger strike.

I created a photo album here 
and wrote up this report:  

I attended tonight an amazing protest/rally outside the Hutto Family Detention Center. While it's not called a jail or prison it sure looks like one. It used to also house children but campaigns to stop that... did stop it... only for them to build a family detention center outside of Dilley,TX, which houses immigrant women and children.  

The groups organizing tonight's event were also involved in a march a few months ago protesting the Dilley facility. I wrote about that one at the time and will try to dig it up and post it here soon.

For that one 600 people marched together... and it made headlines nationwide and offered hope and inspiration for many.  

Tonight's event was, by design, smaller but it was not intended to be large, as word of the event was kept mum for obvious reasons.  

Grassroots Leadership, which was involved in both events, describes family detention centers this way: "Family detention is the practice of holding immigrant families, including children and babies, in prison-like detention centers with their parents. These detention centers are often operated by for-profit, private prison companies. " 

Tonight's event was to mark the start of a hunger strike by 27 of the women inside thus the hashtag ‪#‎Hutto27‬ .We wanted to let not only the world know of the start of their hunger strike but more importantly for the detention center to be aware that we were watching to see if there was retribution against those women.  

We, people from various groups, including several of us from First Unitarian Universalist of Austin, including Rev. Marisol Caballero, were there to let those inside know we were there in spirit and body to support them.  

From our location at a baseball field on property adjacent to the detention center we were able to see some of the women in an outside exercise area and they cheered our protests, while we cheered in response.  

I felt pride, especially in that moment, that I was participating in something positive and meaningful, a much better use of my time than what I would have been doing tonight, namely writing smart ass remarks about the election debates.  

As my photo album shows we not only chanted about justice and supporting them in their struggle but we also listened as people read from the letters written by some of the women explaining why they are taking what can be a dangerous step of going on a hunger strike.  

While there have been some victories of folks who have been on hunger strikes there have also been cases of forced feeding... of detention centers taking away water from those on hunger strikes, and other penalties and forms of retribution.  

"Eighteen women wrote letters exposing the injustice they have experienced during their detention including a dysfunctional legal system, verbal abuse, rancid food, and inadequate medical care. These conditions reveal the moral bankruptcy of detention and why the women have decided to risk a hunger strike to demand their freedom," Grassroots Leadership wrote in an email announcing the event,  

"The women at Hutto join 54 South Asian immigrants at the El Paso Processing Center and 14 at the LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana who began hunger strikes last week."  

As we protested and chanted we could hear nearby residents also shouting. 

At first there was a moment of unease as we looked at each other to see what they were saying. Then we understood. 

"Let them go! Let them go!" the neighbors shouted about those inside the facility.
We looked at each other and smiled. 

"Let them go!" we shouted back.  

By the end of the night we had some of these neighbors joining us in planning for both continuing this event into the future as well as possible future events. (I'm not going to go into detail here on what the future events will look like as i'm not sure if they want that publicized yet. You can contact me privately about that, if interested in helping.)  

We started with maybe 25 people but then others kept arriving, some who have known about the event for a week or more and some who saw the announcement by email - that went out at 5:30 pm announcing the 6:30 pm event - and came out immediately.  

By the time the event ended around 8 pm we'd grown to 50 people including at least ten people from homes less than 200 yards from the prison property.  

Perhaps we can take a page from the People's Task Force of Austin's playbook, whereby they first do an event with limited turnout. then repeat the event... and repeat it... with the turnout increasing each time, some times doubling the prior turnout, until the actions desired start to take place.  

Meanwhile, the groups have another excellent and creative plan under consideration.
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At one point a group of us walked from the baseball field to the front office of the detention center. The goal was for one or two people, Marisol volunteered to be one of them, to talk to the detention center employees, to let them know that we know there is a hunger strike taking place inside and we will be watching in case there is retribution against those women.... either by the facility or by ICE or other immigration offices.  

Some of us, myself included, were taking photographs and as we approached the front doors there was concern about phones with cameras perhaps being confiscated. Then the point became moot.  

You can see what happened in my photo album: They simply locked the door. Technically, it is visiting hours until 8 pm - this happened at 7:30 pm - and I made sure to photograph a friendly sign encouraging folks to come inside and visit the facility.  

Instead, the door was locked and they watched us try to talk to them.. and I'd say they ignored us except that they watched us... and we took pictures and video of them not letting us inside to talk... and I head reports they started taking videos of us in return.  

We begged to at least let us pass on a note. I heard later the note said something to the effect of, "Hey, we should talk, we hear there's a hunger strike brewing."  

Then two guys came up to us who identified themselves as police (I couldn't tell what law enforcement agency they were from as the detention center is, despite its name, closer to Taylor than to Hutto.) They were not answering any questions though I believe one did agree to take the note.  

We were escorted away from the building.. and back to the road leading away from the facility. There was a lady there with an employee badge. 

"Do you work here? Can you talk to us?" I asked.
"The police said to move," she replied. 

"Can you at least answer my question," I said, as traces of my former life as a journalist were returning.
"The police said to move," she repeated.
I obeyed.
We also told the police and the anonymous worker that we'd talk later... perhaps we will return as soon as tomorrow night.
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We met back up with the rest of the group and, standing in a circle, shared orally our results, learning that while we were trekking to and from the facility the others were talking with some of the neighbors and learning of shared objections to the event, with one of the area kids summing up in perfect kid speak their thoughts about the situation, about these women held without bond for so long.  

"That's messed up," is what the area kid said of the situation.  

It sure is, kid, it sure is.  

And so we made plans to keep our eyes on the situation, figuratively and physically, by sharing this situation and struggle via social media as well as sometimes, in person near the detention center,  

It may be "messed up" but it's not only the neighbors who have their eyes on that place. ...
It's not just our group that was there either.....
Now, thanks to the beauty of the internet, the whole world is now watching.  

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Here's a more detailed explanation by Grassroots Leadership of what happened tonight and why,as well as a petition you can sign:
https://grassrootsleadership.ourpowerbase.net/…/petit…/sign…  

You can read some of the letters here::
https://grassrootsleadership.ourpowerbase.net/…/ex…/url.php…  

Related: Here's a good primer explaning family detention centers and the related issues
are: http://grassrootsleadership.org/facts-about-family-detention