For-Profit Immigration Prison Abuses People with Disabilities including Paralyzed Teen

For-Profit Immigration Prison Abuses People with Disabilities including Paralyzed Teen: #FreeAdelanto4!

#FreeAdelanto4!

Recently, a number of civil rights groups submitted a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security around medical abuses and neglect against people with disabilities in the for-profit Adelanto immigration detention center run by the infamous GEO Group in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. As detailed in the complaint, people in Adelanto are regularly denied necessary medical treatment, are shackled during appointments with psychiatrists, and two men have even died in recent years. Yet, ICE continues to detain people with serious disabilities and asylum seekers at Adelanto, despite the extremely real danger to their physical and mental health.

In response to these concerns Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), Immigrant Youth Coalition (IYC), National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and RAIZ have launched a campaign to demand the immediate release of four people detained in Adelanto with disabilities and asylum seekers.

Please sign the petition and demand that ICE free the Adelanto 4 immediately:

Gerardo Corrales (A#205-464-990)is a 19 year old  son and brother from Seaside, CA who has lived in the U.S. since he was 2. Gerardo is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. He became paralyzed after being the victim of a random shooting one year ago a few weeks before his high school graduation and was still early in his recovery when local police raided his family’s home. The police pointed their guns at Gerardo’s mother and 8 months pregnant sister and put Gerardo into a chokehold despite him being in a wheelchair while he called out that he could not breathe. He was arrested for possession of Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, and handed over to ICE who sent him at Adelanto. Gerardo requires catheters and has been forced to reuse them by Adelanto staff, resulting in a serious infection and hospitalization. He depends entirely on other detained men to help him wash himself, use the bathroom, and change his clothes. His wheelchair has three major screws that hold it together and two have fallen out, putting him at risk of serious injury at any moment. Gerardo has a strong U Visa case from the shooting that left him paralyzed and must be released immediately so that his family can care for him and he can continue to heal and finish high school. He is a very smart, funny, and well-spoken young man. While he has a conviction from when he was very young resulting from being with friends who were in possession of guns, it should not result in him being medically abused in immigration detention or deported to a country where he has no family or support system. 

You can hear Gerardo here 

Carlos Hidalgo (A#092-952-155) is a 47 year old father of 3 U.S. citizen children, a beloved son of U.S. citizen parents, a grandfather, and a community activist who has lived in the United States since he was 13. He lives with multiple sclerosis for which he received no treatment in Adelanto and is a fierce advocate for other people facing the brutality of the immigration detention system. While in Adelanto, he helped other people with disabilities file grievances for medical abuse and alerted them of their rights. In retaliation, ICE threw him into solitary confinement for over 3 days and then transferred him to a different detention facility because “GEO Group doesn’t want you here.” Since then, ICE has prevented him from having his court hearing three times under mysterious circumstances, seemingly in retaliation for his activism. As a result, Carlos devastatingly missed his U.S. citizen daughter Lovette’s high school graduation. He was previously out on immigration bond but then was redetained despite not violating his bond, likely in retaliation for the organizing that he was doing on behalf of other detained immigrants. He is eligible for a U Visa as a survivor of domestic violence. He is an incredibly kind, brave, and passionate human being and was instrumental in the victory of ending LA's 287(g) agreement with ICE. Carlos’s previous convictions for a long-ago DUI and credit card fraud do not make him disposable or any less of a beloved member of his family and the immigrant rights community. 

You can hear Carlos here 

Kevin Arevalo (A# 095-0114-59) is a 21 year old student who has been in the U.S. since he was 7. He is a respectful, loving introvert. His family fled from horrible gang violence in El Salvador after his father saw a person be murdered in his store. Kevin is currently seeking asylum. Kevin has suffered from serious anxiety which was exacerbated by being racially profiled by the police. Kevin was the victim of a hit and run by a car that ran over him while he was walking. He was seriously injured and required two surgeries and has continuing severe pain, which led him to self-medicate and further harmed his mental health. According to Kevin’s mom, “That’s when everything went downhill in our lives.”  At the immigration prison, Kevin is not getting adequate physical or mental health care and his condition is worsening. His sisters cry every time he calls because they miss him. He says, “I want to be released and surrounded by my family's support so that I can better my life" and so he can finish his GED.

Victor Calderon (A# 206-412-111) is a 32 year old who has lived in the United States since he was 6. He is the father of three U.S. citizen children (two sons who are 12 and 13 and a daughter who is 10) and his mother Patricia is a green card holder. Victor loves playing basketball at his local church and helping people who are going through hard times. Victor is an asylum seeker who already had a cousin who had been disappeared and likely killed in Mexico in 2010. Victor takes care of his mom who has a disability. While Victor has previous conviction for having a pipe and for domestic violence, he states, "I regret what I did and from this day forward I am going to make better decisions. I am going to use this as a learning experience and become a new and improved person when I am released." His mother says, “We really miss him, especially me because I am sick and I am getting worse because of the stress and sadness.  His kids and sisters also miss him.  We are very sad and depressed because of the situation we currently are in.”