Kite Line

In light of the ongoing struggles across the country against deportations, family separations, and ICE detention centers, we are sharing an interview we did last year about struggles in Australia against refugee prison camps. In 2002, imprisoned refugees inside Australia’s remote Woomera immigration prison coordinated protests with 2500 supporters who had pitched a No Borders camp outside the facility. This cooperation allowed the prisoners to stage a mass breakout. This is the first of two episodes dedicated to this story, from an interview with Aren Aizura, a participant in the solidarity camp.

We were drawn to Aren’s story by the fierceness of the resistance within the detention center, and the solidarity and coordination between supporters on the outside and those inside the walls of Woomera’s detention center. It’s a vital reminder than in an age of escalating American nationalism and xenophobia, fences can be torn down and connections can be forged across walls.

As we air this episode, there are occupations underway at ICE detention facilities or offices in Portland, Tacoma, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Wichita, Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Louisville, with more popping up every week. Each of these are spaces for both direct struggle against xenophobic imprisonment and for experimenting with new kinds of community that are not defined by legal status, borders or race. Given the high stakes of this struggle – the lives of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees including thousands of children, not to mention the hardening precedent of family separations and other kinds of racial targeting – we must learn from previous experiences of occupation and organizing such as Woomera.

For this episode, we are returning to the conditions in immigrant detention centers. Alejandra spoke at the Fight Toxic Prisons conference in Pittsburgh, which was held earlier this month. Growing up in California, she was the only child in her family to be undocumented. As an adult in Arizona, she had a minor arrest that led to her incarceration in Eloy Deportation Center. Now, she sheds light on the conditions in the women’s detention facilities. Alejandra continued her organizing behind the walls of the detention center, and now that she is out, she is busy trying to share information about the conditions inside, as well as aid immigrants affected by deportation. Her message is vital in this current political climate. She makes sure to remind us that conditions in these detention centers are often the same as in prisons.

This week, we will focus on a specific story about an immigrant detention case in Pittsburgh- and hear firsthand from family impacted by these harsh repercussions for undocumented immigrants. Martin Esquivel-Hernandez was detained after a traffic stop, held by ICE, and eventually deported, leaving his family behind in Pennsylvania. Today, we will hear his story through the eyes of his daughter’s experience, along with comments by a supporter of the family, who are still trying to be reunited with Martin.  This is the first part of two episodes this month on immigration and detention.

You can learn more about Martin and his family’s struggle here:

Public Letter from Martin Esquivel Hernandez

First, we hear part of a panel from the recent Fight Toxic Prisons conference, which was held last week in Pittsburgh. Saleem Holbrook shares his experiences after doing nearly three decades inside, with a focus on what it’s like to organize behind the walls. Coming into the system when he was young, he describes the influence of older prisoners on himself and others. He speaks on the influence of Malcolm X, the George Jackson Brigade, and how those thoughts sat with them for years before culminating in the Human Rights Coalition, and other ways to act against a system designed to oppress those inside. Now, Holbrook is out, and continues to organize. He is the co-founder of the Human Rights Coalition, along with his late mother. Holbrook sat down for an interview with us to speak more in depth about his own experiences, and how the families of prisoners can get organized to make a positive impact on their loved ones on the inside.