City Hall Reporter
San Diego Union-Tribune
David Garrick reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Ysidro rally focuses on treatment of immigrant women, girls at border
Critics say detention centers deny proper health care, feminine hygiene products
Activists from across the county held a rally Sunday in San Ysidro to highlight the inhumane treatment of immigrant women and girls held at detention centers across the nation’s southern border.
Waving signs saying “stop racism now” and “respect women of color,” the activists chanted “classrooms not cages” and “when immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do — stand up and fight back.”
Gathered on a baseball field near the international border and the Otay Mesa Detention Center, the roughly 60 activists listened to a series of speakers describe reports of poor treatment that women and girls are receiving in detention centers.
“The punishing conditions imposed by the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and Customs and Border Protection on immigrants at the southern border continue to threaten the lives of tens of thousands of vulnerable persons,” said Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women, which organized the rally.
Van Pelt said there are an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 immigrants in detention centers along the border and that many are experiencing intolerable conditions.
Women and girls, she said, have experienced sexual assaults, harassment and limited access to feminine hygiene products. In addition, she said they are often not provided interpreters, reproductive health care or mental health care.
Van Pelt drew angry shouts of support from the crowd when she described women and girls being forced to continue wearing soiled undergarments because they aren’t provided proper hygiene products.
Government officials have acknowledged overcrowding and other problems at the detention centers.
President Donald Trump has said conditions are better than they were under the Obama administration. But many reports from immigrant and human rights groups dispute that.
Dolores Huerta, an 89-year-old icon in the feminist and labor movement, was the featured speaker at the rally.
Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, led the crowd in a chant of “Who’s got the power, we’ve got the power — feminist power.”
She also said it’s crucial for activists and others concerned about racism and poor treatment of immigrants to become as politically active as possible.
“There is only one way to change the situation,” she said. “We’ve got to get active out there in these next elections. We are the only ones who can make it happen — we can’t rely on anyone else.”
Among those at the rally were two first-year students at Cal State San Marcos.
“We want people to know that everyone deserves rights, not just one specific group,” said Vanessa Span, a Latina who grew up in Redding.
Kimi Herrera, also Latina, said our country was founded on immigration so it’s important to continue to respect the process.
“Coming from a background of immigrants, I think this is something really important to bring attention to,” said Herrera, who grew up in Glendora.
The rally took place at the Cesar Chavez Recreation Center in San Ysidro.
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The true “national emergency” at our Southern Border is the Trump Administration’s attack, led by “Big Mac With Lies,” on our legal asylum system, Due Process, and human dignity. Nowhere is that more evident than within the deadly “New American Gulag” administered by Big Mac for Trump & Stephen Miller. How many more innocent women and girls will be abused by Trump & “Big Mac With Lies” before they are rightfully removed from office?
PWS
10-07-19