DOVER, NH — While bicyclists and kayakers enjoyed the first Sunday in May, activists drove in their fourth consecutive car rally at Strafford County Department of Corrections. The protest caravan has grown to 65 vehicles since it started April 11. The protestors are urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to free the 73 immigration detainees at the lockup.
Never Again Action of New Hampshire organized the event. Its petition sent to Governor Chris Sununu and other officials has gained 700 signatures. None have responded. It states:
“Like other detention facilities, this jail is set to become an incubator for Covid-19. When – not if – these tinderboxes explode, our facilities are not equipped to provide hospital-quality care or even burials. Inevitably, the virus will wash back into the community through guards, staff, and their families.
“All immigrants in civil detention should be released now to return to their children, families, and communities. There is ample evidence that immigrants who are free from detention under local case management while awaiting court hearings have nearly a 100% compliance rate for future court appearances.”
Federal judge to begin bail hearings for immigrants held in NH
On Friday, May 1, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ordered bail hearings for the medically vulnerable immigrants being held by ICE at the Strafford County jail, in a case brought by the ACLU and four prominent New Hampshire law firms over concerns about COVID-19.
The hearing focused on conditions and practices at the lockup, where Customs and Immigration Enforcement houses immigrants accused of violations of civil immigration law such as entering the country illegally or overstaying visas.
McCafferty said she will start bail hearings on Monday for the medically vulnerable inmates. She plans to issue a written decision that covers other ICE detainees.
The ACLU of New Hampshire and four local law firms filed suit on April 17 against ICE to release the immigrants held by ICE in Strafford County jail.
“Detaining people for immigration violations during a pandemic is a completely unacceptable and irresponsible game of public health Russian Roulette. We don’t know who, and we don’t know when, but some people will get sick, and some people will die,” said Ron Abramson, counsel at Shaheen & Gordon PA, a party to the suit. “The only way to minimize that possibility is to release as many people from detention as possible
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says at least 317 people in their detention facilities have tested positive for COVID-19, according to CBS News.
Never Again Action, a national organization, was founded in 2019 by Jews motivated by their prophetic tradition and their history of oppression. Its goal is to prevent ICE, DHS, CBP, and the corporations that support them from doing business as usual. The New Hampshire chapter has the added goal of engaging citizens directly in the issue. Activists in the New Hampshire chapter are diverse, including Jews and people from a wide range of religious backgrounds.
Online sources:
- NAA https://www.neveragainaction.com/
- NAA NH Never Again Action NH – Home
- Petition https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/free-the-immigrants-in-strafford-county-jail-releasethemnow
- Syracuse University TRAC report https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/601/?fbclid=IwAR2GY1mPG1yZ3KF-PlN0W5mgtNMibhacWvrCj9Q560Itc48H9WKcoy3RMas
- ACLU NH https://www.aclu-nh.org/en/press-releases/aclu-nh-files-emergency-federal-lawsuit-seeking-hearing-detained-immigrant?fbclid=IwAR2iRZR0GU4vQRx5m-bq9gvm2zXAOOQkDRzTFSSmYsZ1ovYc_UIiuz_8Q1Y
