Southern California activists spotlight Adelanto ICE detention centers on International Migrants Day

Southern California activists rallied in front of Adelanto’s City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 18 to bring attention to conditions inside one of California’s largest ICE detention centers on International Migrants Day.

“This day calls us to honor the courage, selfless devotion, and contributions of migrants in so many countries around the world,” said Sister Arlina with the National Ecumenical Forum for Filipino Concerns’ chapter in the Inland Empire. “They are the farmers who cultivate land, so we may have food on our tables. The caregivers who take the care of the sick, the elderly, and the differently abled. … They are the babysitters, who nurture for our children and families.”

The group of about 50 rallygoers yelled chants like “defend migrant workers” and “migrants of the world unite.” Some held flags from the Philippines and Mexico, and signs that read “end family separation for migrant families” and “no to third country deportations.”

Filipino migrant organizations first recognized Dec. 18 as International Migrants Day in 1997 to bring attention to the then-stagnant 1990 United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families. After years of grassroots pressure, the UN officially recognized the day in 2000. By 2003, the Convention received the ratifications needed from 20 different countries to become international law. The U.S. has still not signed on to the Convention.

This internationally recognized day comes as the Trump administration continues to carry out intensified immigration raids across the country in his effort to enact the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.

Tens of thousands of people swept up by federal immigration agents are sent to ICE detention centers, like those in Adelanto.

Max Manalo, an organizer with Bayan Socal, spoke about visiting a man detained at a local ICE detention center before the event.

“He greeted us with open arms even though this is a person who has been cooped up in detention for the last three months and he was happy to receive us to see anyone. And he told us about the conditions they’re facing inside, the retaliation they face from the guards for trying to speak up about their conditions inside the detention center. … He told us that he asked for Tylenol and it took four days for the [medical] note to be received and even addressed. Shame!” Manalo said.

For years, the conditions of those detained inside Adelanto’s ICE detention centers have faced widespread scrutiny from watchdog groups, politicians and advocacy organizations. Numerous lawsuits have been filed in recent years against GEO Group, the private-prison company that owns and manages Adelanto’s ICE detention centers. At least two people have died after being detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center this year.

“We actually have to show people what they’re facing inside the detention centers because these are people with entire families, these are people with their own stories that need to be shed light on,” Manalo added.

As a symbolic act of resistance, rally attendees concluded the event by destroying a Donald Trump piñata.