Tucson, AZ – Hundreds of activists from across the country convened in southern Arizona for this year’s School of the Americas Watch: Converge on the U.S./Mexico Border. The event was held on Oct. 7-8 to bring attention to U.S. wars and intervention in Latin America, the continued militarization of the Mexico border, the pressing refugee crisis, and the criminalization and incarceration of undocumented migrants.

Throughout the weekend-long mobilization, vigils, protests and workshops were held by various faith based, immigrant rights, indigenous, student, environmental and social justice organizations.

The opening event took place Oct. 7 at the Eloy Immigrant Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) runs many detention centers as private, for-profit businesses that are notorious for human rights violations. Due to inhumane conditions, these facilities are seeing many bold hunger strikes as poor people behind bars continue to fight for their dignity.

On Oct. 8, activists marched to meet each other at the border wall, kicking off on the U.S. side from the Hotel Americana in Nogales, Arizona and on the Mexico side from Plaza Ochoa in Nogales, Sonora. Speakers and musicians from across the Americas demanded the end to the destructive U.S. economic, military and political interventions in Latin America. People echoed the need to build bridges of solidarity between all oppressed peoples and their struggles for justice and self-determination.

School of the Americas Watch workshops included: Empire prisons: How the U.S. is spreading mass incarceration in Mexico; From Palestine to the U.S./Mexico border: Border militarization practices; Borderland Identity: Expectations and Realities. For those unable to attend the border protest, several workshops were held in the city of Tucson that addressed topics like gender, racism and international solidarity.

“I’m really glad this is being held in the Arizona/Mexico border because our immigrant and indigenous communities have suffered firsthand the effects of the militarization of the border and oppressive laws like SB1070. This event will bring national attention to the humanitarian crisis taking place at the border”, said Eduardo C. Tolentino, a Tucson immigrant rights activist.

The border convergence concluded Oct. 10 with a community celebration of Indigenous People’s Day, including music, dancers and speakers.

#TucsonAZ #SchoolOfTheAmericas #CorrectionsCorporationOfAmerica #EloyImmigrantDetentionCenter

Provo, UT – Students and community members protested in front of the Wells Fargo building on April 6 to voice their opposition to Wells Fargo’s hypocritical marketing. Wells Fargo deeply invests in privately owned prisons through firms like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the U.S.

CCA operates several immigrant detention centers throughout the country while financially backing anti-immigrant legislation such as Arizona’s infamous Senate Bill 1070. SB 1070 promotes racial profiling of Chicanos, Mexicans and American Indians and gives police the power to arrest based on whether individuals are carrying identification documents. Wells Fargo and the CCA want more arrests, to increase the numbers of people in immigrant detention centers, thereby raising revenues and profits.

The Utah Valley Dream Team, an immigrant rights organization, led the protest with the Revolutionary Students Union (Utah Valley University chapter) supporting them.

Wells Fargo also advertises extensively in Spanish-language media, informing listeners that they do not need an ID to open up a bank account. At the same time, Wells Fargo is financing the state laws and immigrant detention centers, leading to the harassment, detention and deportation of undocumented workers.

According to event organizer Augustino Diaz, “We gathered to expose Wells Fargo’s financing of private prisons and lobbying efforts that separate and destroy families, especially in the undocumented community.”

During the protest members of the Dream Team closed their accounts with Wells Fargo, informing the bankers that they would be moving their money elsewhere due to the company’s investment in privately owned prisons.

#ProvoUT #CapitalismAndEconomy #InJusticeSystem #WellsFargo #RevolutionaryStudentsUnion #CorrectionsCorporationOfAmerica #UtahValleyDreamTeam