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Introduction: Arrest and Detention
Janice (not her real name) is 19 years old and from Portland, Oregon. In May 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came to her house with a deportation order for Janice and her mother, Carla (not her real name). Janice was not home at the time, but ICE arrested her parents. They thrust a paper at her step-father, ordering him to sign it; when he refused, they arrested him. His bond was set at $10,000, but Janice is unable to pay such an exorbitant amount, so he remains detained. Her mother is not eligible for a bond, and Janice fears that ICE hopes to deport her as soon as possible. They are both detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington.
Conditions in Detention: Ongoing Neglect
Carla related to her daughter many of the atrocities she has witnessed occurring at the Northwest Detention Center. She has seen pregnant women not eating well or enough. Carla became sick, and the guards refused to take her to see a doctor. When she finally did see a doctor, they told her that it’s normal for her to be sick.
Carla witnessed many people needing emergency medical care because ICE refused to treat them after their initial requests. At the end of May, Carla had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency medical treatment. She says that last week a man died of lack of immediate attention and last month a woman died of an infection in her stomach.
After visiting her mother, Janice says, “There are many people who have many things to say in there but are afraid to speak. I want to be that voice when they can't talk and when they have no support.”
Medical Care: Inadequate and Inappropriate Treatment
Carla endured watching pregnant women being treated completely inappropriately for their condition. They were given bad food, or not enough food, and had to sleep on hard beds with a very thin mattress. These women must also endure the stress of being locked up, and extremely deficient medical attention.
At the end of May, two pregnant women were rushed to the emergency room, one with symptoms of abortion. The other woman was seven months pregnant, and appeared to be experiencing complications. Both were taken to the hospital with chains on their feet and hands. Both women told the officials, “Please do not chain our feet, we might fall.” The officials answered that they didn’t have to worry, that they would be holding them the whole time. When the women went in to see the doctor, the guards were reluctant to remove the chains, only doing so when the women had to undress, and immediately cuffing them again afterwards. The women requested privacy with the doctor, and the officials refused. They returned to the detention center in chains again.
The guards’ treatment of these women was extremely humiliating. They were sick, chained, and being stared at by an entire hospital.
Conclusion: Callous Injustice
This experience was a very humiliating one for these two women. While being sick, they were still chained, and the people at the hospital were staring at them in a way that made them feel very uncomfortable. The guards blatantly stated that they didn’t care that these women were pregnant or sick. A guard told them flat out, “You will be deported to your country.” And one of the women asked, “In this condition that I am in? I will not be able to travel like this.” The guard cruelly responded, “It doesn’t matter; you have to leave this country regardless if the doctor says that you can’t travel.”
Carla says, “My desire is for these people to be treated with more respect and dignity. I have seen the injustice in this place, and I am a victim of this. They have wives and husbands separated here without being able to write a letter or to have any communication whatsoever. They do not care about the families that we have left behind, our children. Many people are afraid to speak out, to take action. I want to help all of these people, but being in here does not allow me to.”
