Protesting INS detention center in Queens
Title
Protesting INS detention center in Queens
Description
On July 27, 1999, inmates at Wackenhut Immigration Detention Center in Queens went on a hunger strike, demanding the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) review pending parole for political asylum cases and improve the conditions in the facility.[1] Detentions at INS facilities ranged from two weeks to over two years, and detainees could be thrown into solitary confinement, treated as cheap labor, and given limited access to representation; all done to individuals fleeing violence and danger, looking for asylum in the U.S.A.[2] Writing in the Fall of 1999, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities asserted "the immigrant poor in the U.S. can expect no better treatment than the most dangerous and recalcitrant criminals."[3]
On August 1st, 1999 CAAAV protesters stood outside the Wackenhut Prison in Queens, NY (now the Queens Detention Facility) located just outside the JFK Airport, in a small strip of warehouses between the airport and the Belt Parkway; two major thoroughfares of travel in stark contrast to the prison. Holding signs with clear demands, CAAAV members stood in solidarity with those held behind bars and demanded the release of asylum seekers kept at the Wackenhut prison; a private, for profit prison run by the Wackenhut Corporation. CAAAV was protesting treatment inside the prison, the human rights abuses inflicted upon those held by INS, and demanding a repeal of the 1996 Immigration Act.[4]
Emmy Kutesa, a Ugandan asylum seeker who arrived on March 6th 1998, was a participant of the hunger strike.[5] His case brought the plight of asylum seekers at INS facilities to the attention of CAAAV. Kutesa was fleeing Uganda after being tortured and hunted; he feared being sent back to Rwanda because he knew it meant death. Making his way to the United States of America, he arrived at JFK asking for asylum and was immediately sent to Wackenhut Prison.[6] Finding solidarity in his struggle, and the wave of anti-immigration sentiment, CAAAV joined with other grassroots organizations such as the Latino Workers Center, National Korean Service & Education Consortium, Nodutdol for Korean Community, and the Coalition for Human Rights of Immigrants to protest the treatment of Kutesa and others imprisoned in terrible conditions after seeking asylum.[7] Organizers said, "under a wave of reactionary legislation which combines 'tough-on-crime' ideology with anti-immigrant nationalism, the civil and human rights of Third World immigrants are being eroded."[8]
CAAAV members were empathetic to the criminalization of 20th century immigrants of color and their deplorable treatment by INS; Asian immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were criminalized for their mere existence and detained as well. CAAAV organizers saw the prison industrial complex rising in the last half of the 20th century as America's latest war against the poor and people of color. They acknowledged the target of the prison industrial complex was mostly Black and Latino communities, but recognized that Asian communities were not exempt from this violence. Organizers saw a deep overlap between police violence, anti-immigration rhetoric, and the prison industrial complex.[9]
CAAAV asserted "we must come to understand how the struggle of the new immigrant laborer is simultaneously the struggle of the prisoner, how the welfare recipient has a stake in the liberation of the working poor immigrant; and how exclusive targeting of either state institutions or the private sector is no longer adequate."[10]
Kutesa was released from Wackenhut in October 1999, after spending almost two years detained in Queens.[11] In 2004, the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation changed its name to the GEO Group, Inc. and as of March 2021, still runs the Queens Detention Facility.[12] It is currently being investigated by the New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for potentially inadequate Covid-19 protections for prisoners.[13]
Notes
[1][2][4][9]“Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 3-6. https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Voice_Fall_1999.pdf
[3]“Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 4.
[5][7] Solomon, Alisa. “Wackenhut Detention Ordeal.” The Village Voice. August 31, 1999. https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/08/31/wackenhut-detention-ordeal/
[6][11] Dow, Mark. American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004. 120-135.
[8] “Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 4.
[10] “Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 5.
[12] “GEO Group.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEO_Group.
[13]“AG James Takes Action to Force For-Profit Queens Detention Facility to Comply with Ongoing Investigation into Insufficient COVID-19 Protocols.” Press Release, December 15, 2020. New York State Office. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/ag-james-takes-action-force-profit-queens-detention-facility-comply-ongoing.
On August 1st, 1999 CAAAV protesters stood outside the Wackenhut Prison in Queens, NY (now the Queens Detention Facility) located just outside the JFK Airport, in a small strip of warehouses between the airport and the Belt Parkway; two major thoroughfares of travel in stark contrast to the prison. Holding signs with clear demands, CAAAV members stood in solidarity with those held behind bars and demanded the release of asylum seekers kept at the Wackenhut prison; a private, for profit prison run by the Wackenhut Corporation. CAAAV was protesting treatment inside the prison, the human rights abuses inflicted upon those held by INS, and demanding a repeal of the 1996 Immigration Act.[4]
Emmy Kutesa, a Ugandan asylum seeker who arrived on March 6th 1998, was a participant of the hunger strike.[5] His case brought the plight of asylum seekers at INS facilities to the attention of CAAAV. Kutesa was fleeing Uganda after being tortured and hunted; he feared being sent back to Rwanda because he knew it meant death. Making his way to the United States of America, he arrived at JFK asking for asylum and was immediately sent to Wackenhut Prison.[6] Finding solidarity in his struggle, and the wave of anti-immigration sentiment, CAAAV joined with other grassroots organizations such as the Latino Workers Center, National Korean Service & Education Consortium, Nodutdol for Korean Community, and the Coalition for Human Rights of Immigrants to protest the treatment of Kutesa and others imprisoned in terrible conditions after seeking asylum.[7] Organizers said, "under a wave of reactionary legislation which combines 'tough-on-crime' ideology with anti-immigrant nationalism, the civil and human rights of Third World immigrants are being eroded."[8]
CAAAV members were empathetic to the criminalization of 20th century immigrants of color and their deplorable treatment by INS; Asian immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were criminalized for their mere existence and detained as well. CAAAV organizers saw the prison industrial complex rising in the last half of the 20th century as America's latest war against the poor and people of color. They acknowledged the target of the prison industrial complex was mostly Black and Latino communities, but recognized that Asian communities were not exempt from this violence. Organizers saw a deep overlap between police violence, anti-immigration rhetoric, and the prison industrial complex.[9]
CAAAV asserted "we must come to understand how the struggle of the new immigrant laborer is simultaneously the struggle of the prisoner, how the welfare recipient has a stake in the liberation of the working poor immigrant; and how exclusive targeting of either state institutions or the private sector is no longer adequate."[10]
Kutesa was released from Wackenhut in October 1999, after spending almost two years detained in Queens.[11] In 2004, the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation changed its name to the GEO Group, Inc. and as of March 2021, still runs the Queens Detention Facility.[12] It is currently being investigated by the New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for potentially inadequate Covid-19 protections for prisoners.[13]
Notes
[1][2][4][9]“Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 3-6. https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Voice_Fall_1999.pdf
[3]“Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 4.
[5][7] Solomon, Alisa. “Wackenhut Detention Ordeal.” The Village Voice. August 31, 1999. https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/08/31/wackenhut-detention-ordeal/
[6][11] Dow, Mark. American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004. 120-135.
[8] “Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 4.
[10] “Asian Communities - Policing and Prisons” The CAAAV Voice 10, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 5.
[12] “GEO Group.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEO_Group.
[13]“AG James Takes Action to Force For-Profit Queens Detention Facility to Comply with Ongoing Investigation into Insufficient COVID-19 Protocols.” Press Release, December 15, 2020. New York State Office. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/ag-james-takes-action-force-profit-queens-detention-facility-comply-ongoing.
Date
August 1, 1999
Contributor
Laura Juliano
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
Rights
Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities.
Format
Photograph
Identifier
CAAAV_1322
Files
Citation
“Protesting INS detention center in Queens,” CAAAV Digital Archive, accessed May 17, 2024, https://archives.caaav.org/items/show/1855.