Month: August 2014

The Post Release Accompaniment Program is a new program that offers the safe release of immigrant detainees at the West County Detention Facility by providing short-term housing, in emergency cases, and transportation to airports or bus stations by willing and giving volunteers. This program was created in response to the increasing number of detainees arriving at WCDF from the border, many of whom are asylum seekers fleeing extreme circumstances in their homeland. The program is in collaboration with ICIR-CLUE-CA, CIVIC, and Centro Legal de la Raza, all of which are the leading immigrant rights organizations in the Bay Area. Since the program has started in April, we have helped over 80 releases get home safely. The program is still progressing and it is a learning process for all involved.

On July 24^th, community members, activists, and organizers from all over the Bay Area came together for the Post Release Accompaniment Program’s first official volunteer orientation to learn more about the program. Current as well as prospective volunteers were given the opportunity to interact with those from the program as well as gain perspective in to the way things are run and what is expected of volunteers. The volunteers were given a detailed background, highlighting brief history of the issue and more in-depth steps for the volunteers. Please find the attached volunteer orientation packet as well as the forms to sign up.

Volunteer Orientation Packet

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1S6GJ3R2-NHSzVfLWNJeVRZSERheWFDSi1qWUU5Y1N5NUQ4/edit

Volunteer Driver Sign Up

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZMqamR6UiMoLAGVYde2W0PeNfePwjpC-osWpevkoUWM/viewform

Volunteer Emergency Housing Sign Up

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tNG3yVWciuAVlEttQ_XTFMg94Bf7lfzLbOH5sj7Q3mQ/viewform

Support Pack List (if interested in donating)

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1S6GJ3R2-NHMUJUQ3ZHVGRINzQ/edit

*artwork by Julio Salgado

Hello Visitors, Advocates, and Friends,

It is a pleasure to announce the launch of a very exciting project!  Today, we are releasing seven audio recordings and videos, featuring the voices of people in immigration detention across California.  They are part of our multimedia project, “Detention Stories: Life Inside California’s New Angel Island,” which explores the social and cultural world inside California’s immigration detention centers through the stories men and women in immigration detention share.  What we recorded is shocking…

In addition to these films, CIVIC launched a reporting platform for immigrants detained across the globe to share their stories.  We hope you all will contribute to this platform.  It’s simple and easy!

Our press release is below.  Please share it widely.
Warm regards,

Christina M. Fialho
Co-Executive Director
Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC)
T: 385-21-CIVIC
www.endisolation.org
http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/christina-fialho

*Admitted to the California State Bar

Audio Recordings Document Abuse in Immigration Detention

LOS ANGELES – Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) releases seven audio recordings and videos, featuring the voices of people in immigration detention across California.  As video and audio recording generally is not allowed in immigration detention facilities, people in immigration detention requested that CIVIC record their voices to share with a larger audience online.  Through these telephone conversations, CIVIC documented arbitrary use of solitary confinement, sexual assault, physical abuse by ICE officers, prolonged detention, retaliatory transfers, and other aspects of life inside immigration detention.

“The stories people in immigration detention share in these clips are shocking,” said Christina Fialho, co-executive director of CIVIC.  “It is no wonder that our federal government does not generally allow audio or video recording devices in immigration detention.  If the federal government refuses to be transparent about detention practices, it is our duty to provide people in detention with a platform to tell their stories.”

While the United States debates the large-scale legalization of undocumented immigrants, the issue of adult immigration detention is rarely discussed.  More importantly, the voices of immigrants in detention have not been a part of the discussions. Equality demands that people in detention have a voice in policy discussions affecting their daily lives.

“People in detention can be their own advocates and take steps to make their voices heard,” said Will Coley, the Technical Director for the project and founder of Aquifer Media. “We’re only facilitating that with current technology.”

In addition to these films, CIVIC launched a reporting platform for immigrants detained across the globe to share their stories.  To date, no comparable project has documented adult immigration detention stories in a systematic way.  Over the next few years, CIVIC will be working with people in detention, their families, and NGOs across the globe to create a larger audio/visual map of the global immigration detention landscape through the stories people in immigration detention desire to share.

“Although their bodies may be locked up,” said Fialho, “their voices remain free.”

The videos, released today, are available at:
http://www.endisolation.org/detention-stories/

The reporting platform is available here:
https://detentionstories.crowdmap.com/

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CIVIC is a national nonprofit working to end the isolation and abuse of people in immigration detention through visitation, storytelling, detention monitoring, and other targeted campaigns.  You can learn more at www.endisolation.org.

Detention Stories: Life Inside California’s New Angel Island was made possible with support from Cal Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Cal Humanities or NEH. Experience more at www.calhum.org.