In the 26th episode of “The Activist Files,” Senior Staff Attorney Ghita Schwarz and Bertha Justice Fellow Lupe Aguirre are in conversation about how their work fighting abusive immigration practices has shifted during the pandemic. They discuss the injustices and inhumanity of the immigration detention system, particularly the conditions immigrants are experiencing during the pandemic, including 40 people living in one room and sleeping on rusted metal beds, the inability to social distance, and immigrants being threatened with pepper spray for protesting the right to make a mask. Ghita and Lupe also examine the economics that come into play when rural Southern towns rely on detention centers to support the local economy. They close by highlighting the advocacy around the #FreeThemAll campaign.

Resources: 

·      Dada v. Witte (LA)
·      Williams v. Horton (AL)
·      Tamayo Espinoza v. Witte (MS)
·      Detention Watch Network
·      #FreeThemAll
·      Los Angeles Times: Detainees at Otay Mesa Detention Center were offered masks, but only if they signed contracts