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A documentary called “The Facility,” directed by journalist Seth Freed Wessler, examined conditions at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia during the early months of the pandemic. “This is both a specific place and a story about a system,” said Wessler. “We have a system that criminalizes asylum seekers and immigrants and causes real suffering.” The film began in March 2020 when inmates started contracting the virus. It also uncovered allegations that female inmates underwent unwanted gynecological procedures six months later. Whistleblower Dawn Wooten, a nurse, announced the facility was not following federal guidelines for the pandemic. The Atlanta Journal Constitution
In other national immigration news …
Pandemic increased “hostile rhetoric” against migrants worldwide, says the UN
The United Nations Migration Agency said the pandemic appeared to have increased “hostile rhetoric” against migrants around the world and “radically changed” mobility. The International Organization for Migration’s 2022 World Migration Report outlined how travel and other pandemic restrictions have created migration problems around the world. According to the report, there will be around 281 million migrants worldwide in 2020, making up 3.6% of the world’s population. IOM found that 60% of these migrants were migrant workers. The Associated Press and The Hill
Black immigrant is running for the Minnesota State Senate
Zaynab Mohamed, a community attorney for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, announced her candidacy for the senator. She will be the first to announce her candidacy for the seat that would represent part of South Minneapolis and Richfield. Should Mohamed be elected, she would be the first black woman to stand in the state Senate and become the youngest woman. She grew up in southern Minneapolis after her family moved to the United States from Somalia. Mohamed said her presence in the Senate as a black immigrant would make her colleagues think about how the problems will affect all people. Sahan Journal
Undocumented California students are struggling to get financial aid
Although California passed a law in 2001 that allows undocumented immigrants who graduate from US high school to pay state college tuition fees, immigrant officials say many students who are eligible for the benefits may not receive them . The application process is difficult to follow and the requirements are different for each college. The Immigrant Rising in San Francisco requires that the three state higher education systems align their requirements to make it easier for undocumented students. According to the California Student Aid Commission, of 92,000 undocumented students attending state colleges and universities, only 16,000 received Cali grants. Lake County Record Bee
Undocumented immigrants are looking for ways to combat trauma
Germán Cadenas, who immigrated from Venezuela at a young age in 2002, became a US citizen after living in Arizona as an undocumented immigrant for 10 years. He is currently a professor of psychology at Lehigh University and has published research on the psychology of undocumented immigrants. Mental health problems can result from being belittled, hunted, imprisoned, and feeling dehumanized through xenophobic rhetoric. Cadenas discovered that when immigrants identify systems that are mentally damaging to them and advocate social justice to destroy those systems, their efforts become “a coping mechanism that helps protect their mental health” and helps others heal . The guard
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