Tacoma, WA – On September 1, the International Migrant’s Alliance – USA (IMA USA) and La Resistencia hosted a rally for solidarity with immigrants and to shut down the Northwest Detention Center. The All Out for Migrant Defense rally was attended by over 850 people.

Many of the attendees traveled from Portland, Oregon as part of the closing event of the 2025 IMA USA and Tanggol Migrante Political Conference. This included a large caravan of over 50 cars and two school buses.

The Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma has become the place for many organizations to unite to fight the United States’ immigration policy. Other organizations like International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Seattle, Bayan Washington, and the Oregon Rising Coalition also attended.

Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Association of Teachers and member of the Oregon Rising Coalition spoke on behalf of the importance of building unity between labor unions and community-based organizations, stating, “This alliance has come together to improve the lives of the working class by taking back power and wealth that has been extracted by our communities.”

This call for unity has followed an interstate effort to end the inhumane conditions at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). The NWDC is managed by a publicly traded company called the GEO Group that receives money from the U.S. government to imprison people during the immigration process.

La Resistencia has been documenting the conditions at the NWDC for over 11 years and has received reports from detainees that conditions are getting even worse. One of the leaders of La Resistencia reported that detainees were being kept in the detention center long after they should have been released or deported. They also said that one detainee had to survive a seven-day hunger strike to finally get deported.

The rally included further testimony of families of those detained in the NWDC. Three different families were able to speak about the horrible conditions inside of the facility. Each speech had a common theme: end the contract with the detention center and to treat all working people with dignity.

#PortlandOR #OR #ImmigrantRights #IMA #LaResistencia #PAT #ORC #TanggolMigrante

Chicago, IL – On August 31, 200 people protested outside the Broadview ICE facility. The protest was organized by the Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (IRWC – CAARPR), which launched a campaign earlier in the summer with aims at closing the Broadview facility.

Kayla Nguyen of the IRWC opened the rally, stating “The so-called Broadview Processing Center has no beds, no showers and no hot meals. They are holding people in there for days. That’s not a processing center, that’s a de-facto detention center. Today we’re protesting to call on State Attorney Eileen Burke and Attorney General Kwame Raoul to launch an investigation into these injustices, uphold the Illinois Trust Act, and close the Broadview facility!”

The Broadview ICE facility has been a key location for federal immigration operations around Chicagoland, and where many kidnapped community members have been taken for processing. Under Illinois law, ICE can operate processing centers for very brief holding times, but is restricted from operating detention centers, including local jails. Many people kidnapped by ICE are taken to such processing centers and then shipped off to another state to await deportation. However, the Broadview facility has been holding people for prolonged periods of time, sometimes up to a week, which has made it into a de-facto detention center.

The Broadview facility lacks beds, meals, kitchen, showers, access to communication and basic dignities for those held there.

“I have seen firsthand the horror within this facility. I have worked within immigrant rights for almost ten years. We have never seen these kinds of conditions in the Chicago area. It’s important that we note them and that we stand against them because we cannot allow this to be our norm,” said Louise Carhart, a lawyer and member of the IRWC.

Carhart continued, “We have laws against detention in Cook County. We have laws against detention in Illinois. We need to enforce our laws and make sure we are showing up for immigrants like Tito Ernie who was released this past week. Tito Ernie was originally detained at the Broadview ICE Facility and at O’Hare. Chicago and Illinois are leaders in this fight and we need to show them why that is.“

Upon arrival, organizers and protesters were met with a significant response from local Broadview police, who eventually closed down the street to block additional traffic due to the amount of people. ICE agents hid inside the building, periodically sending out third party contractor security to pester and provoke those gathered. This protest took place just days after several protesters from an unaffiliated group were arrested for civil disobedience while blocking the entrance of the facility.

Outside the facility, protesters heard from various speakers in the immigrant rights movement, joined in chants to raise their demands, and blocked the entrance of the facility for two hours before departing.

The protest was attended by many people from the community who had heard or seen flyers online or in their neighborhoods, and by many members of endorsing organizations such as the Casa Dupage Worker’s Center, the Arab American Action Network, Tanggol Migrante, and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.

Readers can take action by calling and emailing the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Illinois Attorney General to demand they investigate the Broadview ICE facility and shut it down. An automated message can easily be sent to these elected officials by using the form at: https://www.caarpr.org/irwc#send-letter-to-close-broadview

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #IRWC #CAARPR #CPWC #AAAN #TanggolMigrante #USPCN