Seattle Radical Women’s organizer, Gina Petry, sat down with La Resistencia’s director of organizing, Josefina Mora-Cheung, at New Freeway Hall. They discussed the group’s valiant efforts to get justice for immigrant detainees in the Pacific Northwest.
Gina Petry: Please give readers some background on La Resistencia and your work at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC).
Josefina Mora-Cheung: We began in 2014 as a response to people in detention launching a hunger strike, and a group of other undocumented activists and allies doing a direct action successfully blocking a deportation bus. La Resistencia was born out of people in detention asking for support to lift up their demands. Since then, we have grown to not only support people in detention, but also to run campaigns on the outside to put pressure on shutting down the NWDC run by GEO Group.
All of our team members have been impacted by the immigration system. We believe that people who have lived experience should be the leaders, which is missing in a lot of large nonprofits.
Petry: What campaigns and efforts are you working on?
Mora-Cheung: We organize inside the detention center with the leadership of the people detained. We communicate every day with people in detention through our direct phone lines, video calls and newsletters. We base all of our work on reporting the conditions inside. We run campaigns outside, too, including “solidarity days” outside of the detention center which we co-host with other organizations.
We run the “Free Them All” campaign, about individuals’ stories. It includes a petition that the public can sign to show support.
In our policy work, we were successful in passing Washington state House Bill 1470, which mandated state inspections in the detention center. Unfortunately, GEO Group is not following it and the Attorney General’s office has now taken them to court.
Shackled detainees arrive at King County Airport. PHOTO: Emily Schultz / La Resistencia
We monitor the deportation flights at the King County Airport. GEO Group also contracts for transporting people to and from it.
Lastly, we work against digital detention, which is also known as “alternatives to detention.” It includes ankle monitors, smart watches or phone applications that are surveilled by ICE and other companies. We educate about the dangers and help people to get off digital detention.
Petry: Do you see a difference with the second Trump administration?
Mora-Cheung: We began under the Obama administration in 2014. The conditions in the detention center have shifted, but we’re very careful to say that they haven’t necessarily gotten worse because they were always bad. No matter the administration, human rights were being violated.
That said, yes, the second Trump administration has given a green light for ICE agents and for private companies nationwide to do what they please without any kind of repercussions. Not that there was enough oversight previous to this administration, but many bodies of accountability were dismantled under Trump 2.0.
Petry: What issues do you see from media and politicians, especially Democrats?
Mora-Cheung: We see Democrats and the media push a narrative focusing on immigrants without criminal records. It leaves behind a huge percentage of people who come from the Department of Corrections (DOC).
In Washington state, a major loophole in the sanctuary law allows the DOC and ICE to work together, creating a pipeline where people are recriminalized. This means they serve two sentences for one crime, which is unconstitutional. It has been difficult to fight this pipeline because lawmakers and our governor — who claim to be pro-immigrant — will not address it.
Petry: As you know, Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party have supported La Resistencia. Talk about coalition building you are doing.
Mora-Cheung: Our primary point of collaboration is through the solidarity days, which we often co-host with other organizations. We’ve worked with unions and churches and others. It’s an important opportunity to have a physical presence, build solidarity with people inside, and create connections with other groups.
One of our biggest partnerships is with Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American group of descendants and survivors from World War II incarceration.
Petry: What is the Union of People Kidnapped by ICE?
Mora-Cheung: We received a letter from detainee Rogelio Bolufé about a union forming. Their demands: respect for their constitutional rights and religious freedom. Rogelio had been organizing across multiple detention facilities including NWDC. They were preparing for a hunger strike involving 200 participants. On May 26, a group of 10 detainees attempted to launch the strike, but nine were immediately removed from their unit including Rogelio.
We spent days trying to communicate with Rogelio and union members. We learned that Rogelio was in Ecuador because his home country Cuba was not accepting deportations.
Petry: What message can you give readers about what they can do?
Mora-Cheung: There’s a tendency when people find out what’s happening to want to do something new. We need people to support the work already being done to make it even more powerful.
There’s plenty of opportunities. Donations are always needed. Over 90% of our donations go to our fund for people in detention to buy from the commissary, get personal supplies, or pay for phone or video calls with their families. And come to our solidarity days.
Send comments on this story to FSnews@socialism.com. And visit the La Resistancia website for more information.
