Advocates urge the Clearfield County Commissioners to end the contract that keeps more than 1,800 immigrants in precarious and dangerous conditions
A recording of the virtual press conference can be found here. This is for reporting purposes only and should not be shared on social media.
PENNSYLVANIA, USA – The Shut Down Detention Campaign, a coalition of immigrants’ rights advocates, hosted a virtual press conference discussing the immediate need to end the contract between Clearfield County, ICE, and private prison corporation the Geo Group in light of recent reports of suicide at Moshanon Valley Processing Center. Advocates urged the Clearfield County Commissioners to end the contract that keeps more than 1,800 immigrants in precarious and dangerous conditions, and exposes them to human rights violations.
Erika Guadalupe Nuñez, Executive Director of JUNTOS, said:
“I saw with my own eyes the cramped pods where 70 people shared seven tablets—their only connection to the outside world, to family, legal support, or news. I’ll never forget when one person told me, “You must be someone important. This is the first time I’ve had a pillow since I got here—eight months ago. For the last two years, since that visit, Juntos has operated a visitation network at Moshannon after one of our very own members was detained and placed in solitary confinement for months. As part of the network, we are committed to bearing witness, writing letters, visiting detained people, and continuing to expose the abuses happening inside.I visit this facility every month, and I have seen the daily conditions community members face at Moshannon. I could continue to tell you so many stories, but I prefer to close with the direct testimony of our member, an Afro-Latino immigrant, who battled suicidal ideation as a result of his detention conditions and a two-month stint in solitary confinement.”
A recording from Santiago, who was held at Moshannon, was played:
“They treated me like I was an animal. There were moments when I had to do what they said, and even though I didn’t like it, I had to do it. There came a time when I had a small verbal argument with a fellow detainee in Moshannon, and the time came when they took both of us and put us in the hole. My fellow detainee was given a week in the hole, and I was given two months. Two months they put me in the hole, locked up in a cell. As if I were a criminal, as if I had murdered someone, when all I had done was argue with a fellow detainee. I felt very frustrated, I felt like I was going to go crazy in that place. A lot of anxiety, a lot of anxiety… they only passed my food through a window. They would take me out for recreation, but it was a recreation locked in a cage. I couldn’t see the sun or get any air, nothing, nothing, 24/7. That’s how I spent two months, unable to see the sun or get any air, nothing.”
A recording from an Erie-based man also held at Moshannon was played:
“When I was with ICE, they tied my feet and my hands, and they gave me food with my feet and my hands tied. I couldn’t eat and many times, I asked for water and they didn’t give it to me. I told them that I didn’t want to sign anything before to see my lawyer and no, they didn’t let me speak or see a lawyer and I didn’t sign any paperwork, I didn’t do [that], never, never. They tried [to get] me to sign many paperwork and I said no, no, no and I didn’t do it. If I didn’t do, someone did for me.”
Bobbi Erickson, Cofounder of Indivisible Mayday, said:
“The reaction from the community, the local clergy, and even my group members has been a steady drumbeat of ‘I didn’t know this even existed.” Many have asked me how this facility was kept a secret from people who live so close. Once we share information about the facility—that it is run by GEO Group, for profit, that there are many documented human rights violations by trusted sources like the ACLU—the response is consistent: shut it down! Good people in this community are embarrassed by this facility. It’s not consistent with our values.”
Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network, said:
“Expanding detention is key to Trump’s mass deportation agenda, and he has been clear about that from day 1 through numerous executive orders, comments, and official documents expressing the administration’s intent to increase detention capacity to detain at least 100,000 people at any given time. That is almost 3 times the capacity that ICE was funded for when Trump took office. Despite these daunting circumstances, advocates across the country have fought to shut down facilities in their communities and block the opening of new ones, and we can do it again. Nationwide protests have once again illuminated that people do not want ICE agents and detention centers in their communities. We are honored to stand beside Pennsylvanians organizing to have Clearfield County cut the contract with Geo Group for the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.”
Zeynep Emanet, from CAIR PA, said:
“Moshannon Valley Processing Center has a well-documented history of medical neglect, language isolation, psychological abuse, and solitary confinement. Moshannon represents the worst of a system that treats migrants not as human beings, but as revenue streams. Today, we stand for the families that have been separated, for those in detention currently and those that are no longer with us, having died in ICE custody in preventable deaths. We stand for those that have been deported to third countries they’re not from or even to countries they have sought asylum from. And for those we have lost track of or even ever knew that they were picked up, held, or deported.”