RELEASE THEM NOW!
The Release Them Now! campaign by Dream Action Oklahoma demands the end of inhumane detention center conditions and prison collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Prison and immigration detention centers’ conditions were inhumane before the pandemic. Now law enforcement has done little to none to ensure the safety and health of detainees during COVID-19. With no social distancing and other precautions, those detained are at high risk of contracting the virus and dying from it.
Our communities are battling with the impacts of COVID-19, and ICE continues to detain our loved ones. This campaign strives to highlight our immigrant community’s experiences, expose ICE for continuing to operate with inhumane conditions, and call for the IMMEDIATE RELEASE of our loved ones.
COVID CASES IN OKLAHOMA
Number of confirmed cases: 551,958
Deaths: 9,199
DETENTION CENTERS
287gs:
287(g) program allows state and local agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents. Under 287(g), ICE forms an agreement with a state or local agency – most often a county sheriff that runs a local jail. Thus, the deal delegates specific immigration enforcement authority to designated officers within the local agency. These agreements are also known as “287(g) contracts” or “MOAs” (Memorandum of Agreement). The program gets its name from section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Other Agreements:
The counties without a 287(g) use their own discretionary programs allowing ICE to work in jails and prisons. Oklahoma County Jail Trustee Francie Ekwerekwu says, “There’s no state or county law that requires us … to possess any presence of an ICE officer at the jail.” It isn’t obligatory to hold ICE in prisons. However, prison officials and ICE are profiting off jailing undocumented people and creating a deportation pipeline in the carceral system.
Detention Centers’ Addresses
David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center
300 N. Denver Ave. Tulsa, OK, 74103
Grady County Law Enforcement Center
215 North 3rd Street Chickasha, OK, 73018
Kay County Detention Center
1101 West Dry Road Newkirk, OK, 74647
Oklahoma County Jail
201 N Shartel Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Sovereign Row (ICE Sub Hold Office)
1220 Sovereign Row, Oklahoma City, OK 73108.
Moore Detention Center
111 S. Alabama Ave., Okmulgee, OK 74447
Garvin County Jail
201 W Grant Ave., Pauls Valley, OK 73075