Thread: Activists rally at Georgia immigration detention center to h

Activists rally at Georgia immigration detention center to highlight effects on families

ATLANTA — A year ago, Pedro Guzman was inside a federal detention center in southwest Georgia as his wife, mother-in-law and young son joined an annual vigil at the gate. This year he was outside, participating in the rally Friday, and said it felt amazing.

Guzman, a Guatemalan native who was brought to the U.S. when he was 8, spent 18 months in the Stewart Detention Facility in southwest Georgia before his release six months ago. He's now a legal permanent resident and was happy this year to be on the other side of the gates.

"It just feels really amazing to be here," he said. "I'm just blessed to be out, but a lot of people are still in there."

It was the fifth annual vigil organized by Georgia Detention Watch, a coalition of civil liberties and immigrant rights groups. The vigil focused on the impact of detention on the families of detainees, especially the children. Organizers also want to protest the remote location of many immigration detention centers, far away from advocates and lawyers, said Azadeh Shahshahani of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

"But we still go there frequently, and once a year we have this convergence to show CCA and ICE that we will still come there, no matter how far it is, and also to show our support for the immigrants," she said. Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, is a private company that runs the detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

"It is time to close this for-profit detention center and end the mandatory detention of immigrants," said Anton Flores-Maisonet, one of the event's organizers.

About 270 people attended the vigil, said Flores-Maisonet. Following the vigil, one man decided to commit an act of civil disobedience as a symbolic gesture, crossing under the line of yellow tape that was stretched across the entrance to the detention center property, where he was arrested, Flores-Maisonet said.

As one of eight people arrested during last year's vigil, Flores-Maisonet walked up to the line with the man and gave him a hug in solidarity but did not cross the line himself, he said. After the vigil was over and nearly everyone had left, a sheriff's deputy walked up to Flores-Maisonet, who had stayed behind to give interviews, and said that he had crossed the line and was under arrest, Flores-Maisonet said by phone from the sheriff's office.

Flores-Maisonet was released a short time later after video of the incident revealed that he had not crossed the line, Stewart County Sheriff Larry Jones said.

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency didn't have any comment on Friday's vigil.

Guzman said the six months since his release from Stewart have passed quickly.

"It's unbelievable how fast time moves when you're not behind bars," he said.

He's returned to Durham, N.C., where he lives with his U.S. citizen wife, Emily, and their 5-year-old son, Logan. He's been working as a contractor and he and Emily are expecting a daughter in March, he said.

At last year's vigil, Emily Guzman had planned to cross the police line at the entrance to get arrested, but decided not to because she figured it would be too hard on her son so her mother got arrested instead. This year the family attended the vigil together.

"It was very emotional because we were able to all be together as a family and walk up to the detention center and show them that we're not going to stop fighting for immigrant rights," Emily Guzman said. "It's been amazing to have Pedro back with us. But we're looking back because we know there are people who were left behind in that detention center."

Story Tags: Social Issues, Stewart Detention Center

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Rights groups rally at Georgia immigration detention center

11alive.com
Written by
The Associated Press
2:17 PM, Nov 18, 2011



LUMPKIN, Ga. -- Organizers say about 270 people attended a vigil outside a federal immigration detention center in southwest Georgia.

The vigil Friday morning was the fifth annual gathering outside the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin organized by Georgia Detention Watch, a coalition of civil liberties and immigrant rights groups.

The focus of this year's vigil was the impact of detention on the families of detainees, especially the children.

Pedro Guzman is a Guatemalan native who was released from Stewart six months ago after having been held there for 18 months. His wife attended last year's vigil with her mother and the couple's young son, and his mother-in-law got arrested to protest his detention. Guzman said it felt amazing to be able to attend this year's protest to support those still in detention.

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