#Repost @nwdcr (@get_repost)・・・Join is this Sunday! Asylum Seeker on Hunger Strike Dies at Northwest
#Repost @nwdcr (@get_repost)・・・Join is this Sunday! Asylum Seeker on Hunger Strike Dies at Northwest Detention Center 40-year-old Amar Mergensana’s Death Follows 86 Days of Refusing Food and 11 months in Immigration DetentionTacoma, WA- Members of the Northwest Detention Center Resistance have received word that Amar Mergensana, a 40-year-old Russian asylum seeker, died in the detention center on the afternoon of Thursday, November 15th. NWDC Resistance received a phone call from a person currently detained in the solitary confinement unit of the now-infamous Tacoma immigration detention facility, stating that he had been held next door to Mr. Mergensana, and had seen paramedics unsuccessfully attempt to revive him, and had seen his body taken out of the detention center with blue hands and feet. Members of NWDC Resistance observed both paramedics and Tacoma Police Department vehicles at the facility yesterday afternoon, and Mr. Mergensana was described as “unavailable” for a legal visit by NWDC authorities. Mr. Mergensana had arrived in the US last December, seeking asylum after crossing the US-Mexico border. With his attempts at securing asylum proving unsuccessful, he joined a hunger strike at the NWDC on August 23rd, as part of a larger national prison strike that ran from August 21st to Sunday, September 9th. Even after the hundreds of detained immigrants on hunger strike at the NWDC ended their protest, Mr. Mergensana continued to refuse meals, vowing to continue to starve himself until he either died or was released, given his fear of being deported to Russia. Mr. Mergensana was profiled by the news outlet Crosscut 50 days into his protest. Federal district court judge Benjamin Settle granted ICE’s request to force hydration into Mr. Mergensana this past September, and Mr. Mergensana faced threats of forced-feeding throughout his hunger strike. “We are horrified and saddened by Amar Mergensana’s death. He died protesting his detention and imminent deportation.(See our Facebook page for more info.)https://www.instagram.com/p/BqQP-2NgJekrzAaWijwlU8_YH8bcBaVuwT_LCY0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ev300obtmf93 -- source link
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