For Immediate Release | June 15th, 2021
Contact: JM Wong (765) 372-8812
Liberation Not Deportation Coalition | liberationnotdeportation@gmail.com
***MEDIA ADVISORY— PRESS EVENT: JUNE 16th @ 12PM***
LIBERATION NOT DEPORTATION PRESS CONFERENCE: A CALL TO GOV. INSLEE TO END THE DOC TO DEPORTATION PIPELINE
What: Community members and advocates will gather to mark the delivery of a demand letter to Governor Inslee, calling on him to end the DOC to Deportation pipeline.
When: Wednesday, June 16th, 2021 at 12PM
Where: via Zoom and FB Live
Why: For-profit imprisonment is now illegal in Washington State after the passage of HB 1090. As a result, the state’s largest for-profit prison, the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, will be closing at the end of its contract. Yet the majority of people now entering the very for-profit facility that WA Governor Inslee recently declared unlawful are immigrant Washingtonians transferred from the state’s Department of Corrections custody due the Governor’s DOC-ICE collaboration policy. These Washingtonians are sent to the NWDC through active collaborations between DOC and ICE, and forcibly reincarcerated after completing their sentences. The DOC/ICE transfers into NWDC are often the first step in a deportation pipeline that makes it nearly impossible for Washingtonians to defend themselves from being separated from all they hold dear. With ICE actively transferring asylum-seekers into the NWDC who have tested positive for COVID-19, the Governor’s transfer policy further exposes Washingtonians to early illness and death. There has never been a better time for Inslee to #EndTheTransfers.
Who: Hear from community advocates and individuals impacted by the DOC-ICE pipeline in Washington State, who will describe their experiences in both DOC and NWDC custody and explain their support of the call to end the DOC-ICE pipeline, endorsed by over 60 community organizations.
###
The Liberation Not Deportation Coalition includes incarcerated and formerly incarcerated peoples, the many cultural groups inside DOC facilities across the state, directly impacted people and their community supporters, grass-roots groups with a long history of supporting incarcerated voices, immigrant and migrant justice groups, mutual-aid organizations, legal services providers, faith-based groups and anti-violence organizations.