(ATLANTA, GA 5/19/2017) — The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR Georgia) today joined calls for the closure of Stewart Detention Center and a thorough investigation of detainee conditions after the suicide of 27-year-old Jean Jimenez-Joseph and the death of 58 year old Atulkumar Babubhai Pate
“When I visited detainees at Stewart Detention Center, the inmates told me they were very depressed, “ said Asma Elhuni, CAIR Georgia’s Community Outreach Director, who has visited Stewart Detention Center several times. “I heard from some detainees who have said some guards called them terrorists.”
SEE: Immigrant Detainee Dies in ICE Custody http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/16/us/ice-stewart-detention-center-death/
The detainees’ deaths mark the 8th and 9th of such incidents in 2017. Community activists have been calling on elected officials to investigate the conditions in these detention centers as ICE increases its raids on communities.
SEE: Report: Substandard Care At Ga. Immigrant Detention Centers http://news.wabe.org/post/report-substandard-care-ga-immigrant-detention-centers
SEE: ICE Arrests Increase by 75% in Georgia http://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/ice-arrests-georgia-carolinas-percent/1FGPqTK5UyffU1hzyWmGYO/
“The methodology of how these individuals are being detained is already problematic enough. For two of them to die within a few days of each other is under the watch of the prison is absolutely unacceptable,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR Georgia’s Executive Director.
Jimenez-Joseph had been in solitary confinement since April 27th . The circumstances regarding Pate’s death are still under investigation.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprensión mutua.
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CONTACT: CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, [email protected] or Communications Director, Ruwa Romman, [email protected].