Mere weeks after brutally gassing detainees, Northwest Detention Center authorities ordered SWAT unit to violently attack immigrant detainee simply for heating food without authorization; pattern of brutality continues.
Tacoma, WA – In the evening of March 1, a group of SWAT-clad correctional officers working for private prison profiteers GEO Group beat up one immigrant detainee at Unit F3 in Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). Detainees told La Resistencia that the events unfolded after one F3 guard provided an individual inside with a piece of sandwich, who then proceeded to gift it to another person. The guard objected to the food gift, and soon after the second detainee heated up the sandwich at a microwave in the unit, a SWAT unit was called to use violence against him.
According to those inside, two SWAT-clad correctional officers beat the detainee merely over a piece of food, hitting his nose and throwing him on the ground before putting a knee on his neck. Around eighteen more guards showed up afterward, and one threatened the rest of the unit by beating them up if they intervened. Nobody did so. One hour later, at around 9:50 PM, another officer showed up to take pictures of the bloody floor.
The next day, GEO personnel tried to clean the floor, but F3 detainees protested, arguing that they wanted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to see the bloody floor during their weekly rounds. As of 1 PM yesterday, however, ICE had not yet shown up – despite their scheduled visit at Unit F3 that morning. “The young guy didn’t do nothing, he just took the sandwich and he opened up the package, just for a piece of cheese they [GEO SWAT guards] broke his nose, they mistreated him badly. We all in here are very sad for him. That’s not … for a piece of cheese!”, said a witness to the assault via a video call to La Resistencia.
The beating up of a detainee over a piece of food is part of a broader pattern of brutality and disregard by ICE and GEO Group, including spoiled meals, prohibitive commissary prices, soiled clothing, and many more indignities consistently documented by La Resistencia and the University of Washington Center for Human Rights. Only a month ago, on February 1st, GEO SWAT personnel gassed unit F4 during the start of a hunger strike in protest of their conditions, resulting in multiple people being sent to the hospital.
La Resistencia, in collaboration with students from the University of Washington Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA), Progressive Students Union (PSU), Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (SAARPR), and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will hold a solidarity day Saturday, March 4th, 12-1 PM outside NWDC. Groups will demand Seattle ERO Field Director Drew Bostock and Deputy Field Office Director Sylvie Renda immediate release of the victim of the assault by GEO guards to the Washington Congressional Delegation and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas an investigation with consequences to those that inflicted violence against the young man, and the immediate release of all detained in the infamous facility and the end of the contract between ICE and GEO Group for this and all facilities in the country.
WHAT: Solidarity day action demanding the immediate release of the person assaulted by GEO guards, an investigation into the assault with consequences for those at fault and reparations for the person assaulted, immediate release of all people detained at the facility, and the end of the contract as well as all contracts of such facilities across the country.
WHO: La Resistencia in collaboration with students from University of Washington Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA), Progressive Students Union (PSU), Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (SAARPR), and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO)
WHEN: Saturday March 4th 12-1 PM
WHERE: NWDC 1623 E J St Tacoma, WA
La Resistencia is a grassroots organization in Washington state led by undocumented people in solidarity with detainees at Northwest Detention Center, fighting for the closing of the facility and an end to all detentions and deportations.
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