媒体联络: Lisa Knox, (415)-684-4783, lknox@elahomecollection.com 
(Phone number not for distribution) 

2020年5月15日 

即时发布: 

Second COVID-19 Death Announced, Solo-Hunger Striker Sounds Alarm While ICE Allows Virus To Ravage Facilities 

马里斯维尔镇, -星期日, 5月10日, 胡安·何塞·埃拉佐·埃雷拉, a man detained at the Yuba County Jail, began an indefinite hunger strike to bring attention to horrific conditions inside the facility. 二十岁的时候, he has been needlessly incarcerated for over two years while his immigration case is pending. The announced solo-hunger strike joins a broader movement led by individuals inside detention facilities in California 和 nationwide, 结果是 在解放母亲, 父亲, community members detained at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility 在加州贝克斯菲尔德. 

用胡安·何塞自己的话来说: 

“We are more exposed to the illness here than we were before. On Sunday May 10, 2020, I decided to go on hunger strike because of these conditions. 我想改变这个故事. I’ve been locked up a long time…ICE is exposing me to this illness, they just don’t care. ICE says we’re a danger to society, that we’re protected from the disease. We aren’t a danger; we are in danger. We’re in danger here because we could get sick at any moment 和 they putting us in greater risk. For me, deciding to go on hunger strike isn’t just for me. I’m doing it for everyone here. 我的声音不只是为了我自己. I want people to realize that this just isn’t me 和 that everyone here is in danger. 这里，还有梅萨维德. 我们不安全.” 

Yuba County Jail has already retaliated against Juan Jose. He has been put into medical segregation, in a freezing cold room, threatened by ICE officials. This form of retaliation is a blatant violation of Juan Jose’s First Amendment right to protest his conditions of confinement, is reflective of the brutality in which all detainees in this facility are being treated. The jail has a history of retaliating against 有组织的绝食抗议, 在ICE审核期间 was found to have not properly investigated sexual assaults or use of force, or provide proper medical access to detainees. 

The facility itself is composed of multiple pods in which dozens of individuals are kept in close quarters, with many pods adjacent to one another, allowing the free flow of air to travel between all who are confined. The facility lacks fresh air flow, is incapable of accommodating social distancing, has been under a court ordered settlement agreement 四十年来 based on the inadequate conditions 和 mistreatment of detainees. 

凯利井, who represents Juan Jose with the immigration unit at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, 称赞她的客户的勇敢. “What Juan Jose is doing—starting a hunger strike alone, 现在完全隔离了, in the face of threats 和 coercion from officials—is an extraordinarily brave attempt to force those in power to meet this current crisis with the requisite sense of urgency. Juan Jose came to this country alone at age 16, after surviving torture by Salvadoran authorities, only to be again placed in lethal danger by authorities. People have died in this jail because of medical neglect, even before COVID. If Yuba isn’t meeting detainees’ basic constitutional rights under normal circumstances—和 federal courts have repeatedly found, 四十多年来, that it isn’t—then trapping people there during a deadly p和emic is like signing their death warrant.” 

Yuba County has a contract with ICE which pays them approximately six million dollars annually to house nearly 200 immigration detainees, with a contract that is set to run until 2099. Yet the county appears to be unable or unwilling to provide adequate st和ards of care for those inside. Detainees in Yuba have complained of a lack of basic necessities like soap. There are now reports that facility operators have asked volunteer groups to provide masks for those inside. Yuba County should follow the example of other local jails who have terminated their ICE contracts rather than facilitate negligent care 和 enable needless death. 

Before having the opportunity to hold their loved ones ever again, Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia 和 奥斯卡·洛佩斯·阿科斯塔 tragically passed away due to complications with COVID-19. 没有测试, 没有报告, 没有协议, community advocates raise the question: How many individuals have actually died due to ICE’s medical negligence? While these deaths are completely preventable, ICE refuses to take protective measures to comply with Centers for Disease Control 和 Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines. 

A letter signed by 45 organizations will be delivered to Governor Gavin Newsom, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, California Members of Congress: Senator Kamala Harris, 参议员黛安·范斯坦, Congressman John Garamendi. 

 

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