Tacoma SDS

The following is an email exchange with the Pierce County Health Department about the current influenza outbreak at the NWDC:

Mr. Turner,

Thank you for the prompt reply. We are aware of the role of the Public Health Service and understand their difficult task in protecting the health of all that are impacted by this event. A special concern is noted because in prior instances of health situations at the facility (Measles and food-borne illness) a general lack of candor was exhibited by those responsible.

Some form of contagious disease is causing enhanced precautions at the Northeest Detention Center located on the Tacoma Tarpits Superfund site. Over the weekend, visiting families, some coming from as far away as Portland, were turned away and told that an outbreak of a flu-like disease was on-going.

Even though the persons they were coming to visit were not ill, they were still prevented from visiting.

A motion filed with the City of Tacoma Hearing Examiner on Monday, requests an immediate reconsideration of jurisdictional issues related to the Northwest Detention Center expansion. "We are very concerned that the Hearing Examiner has delayed a decision concerning jurisdiction and refused to halt ongoing grading, excavating and auguring. While GEO Group attorney's asked for more time due to the bad weather and the holidays, their prime construction contractor is working on Saturday and in the bad weather to complete site preparation."

This weekend a Wells Fargo real estate office had its windows broken in solidarity with recent migrant detentions in Washington. There have also been other attacks against Wells Fargo and other profiteers in the immigrant detention industry along the West Coast. Santa Cruz, CA to name just one.

This Saturday also saw a protest against condo developer Mike Cohen in Tacoma, who fired and threatened workers with deportation when they raised concerns about unhealthy working conditions.

Here is the communique from Seattle.Indymedia.org:

An immigration mix-up puts a Lakewood man and U.S. citizen behind bars for seven months and almost gets him deported.

Rennison Castillo broke the law. He was punished for it. And he thought he had served his time. Instead, the last day of an eight-month jail sentence was the start of a seven-month nightmare that almost ended two years ago with Castillo – a Lakewood resident, Army veteran and American citizen – deported to Belize, a country he left as a child.

He spoke publicly about the incident for the first time earlier this month.

April 24 4 pm. Media Teach-In on Immigration Facility.

Join Tacoma Smash ICE with a media teach-in on Tacoma's own I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facility located on the tide flats and the upcoming rally and march. On April 26th, at People's Park (9th and MLK Way), there will be a rally from 12 - 1 pm. Following this will be a march against the Northwest Detention Center and I.C.E.

Tacoma Smash ICE

In 1907, more than two hundred South Asian migrant workers in Bellingham were attacked by a mob of white workers. In the course of one night, an entire community was driven from the town - in the approving words of a local paper, "wiped off the map". One hundred years later in 2007, hostility toward immigrants of color in Bellingham continues. Raids and detentions by government immigration agents are ongoing: so are surveillance and harassment from both government agents and groups like the minutemen. How have the events of 1907 shaped Bellingham as we know it in 2007?

November 9th & 10th-Shut Down Downtown Tacoma

Smash Tacoma ICE