Issued: February 8, 2018
SEIU6, SEIU 925, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, and SEIU 775 Statement on ICE Targeting Activist Maru Mora-Villalpando
SEATTLE— SEIU6 President Sergio Salinas, SEIU 925 President Karen Hart, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW President Diane Sosne, and SEIU 775 President David Rolf issued the following statement after ICE opened deportation proceedings against Activist Maru Mora-Villalpando:
“Maru Mora-Villalpando stands at the forefront of a movement that has brought public awareness to the cruelties suffered by immigrant families at the hands of the detention and deportation system here in Washington State. Her work has inspired hunger strikes at Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center, and a lawsuit filed by Washington’s Attorney General against Geo Group, the corporate owner of NWDC, for paying detainees who work in its facility just $1 a day. After 25 years of living in the U.S. and dedicating her life to immigrant justice, ICE has put Mora-Villalpando in deportation proceedings, threatening to separate her from her 20-year-old U.S.-born daughter.
“The SEIU family recognizes ICE’s actions as an intimidation tactic meant to silence a powerful voice that speaks out on behalf of our immigrant brothers and sisters. We stand with Mora-Villalpando and her daughter in denouncing ICE’s actions and demanding that the agency cease its retaliatory measures against immigrant activists in Washington State and across the nation.”
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SEIU6 President Sergio Salinas
SEIU 925 President Karen Hart
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW President Diane Sosne
SEIU 775 President David Rolf
Contact:
Erin Sroka, Strategic Communications Associate
SEIU6 – Property Services NW
esroka@seiu6.org, 206-475-0583