WEBVTT - Fighting ICE’s Warehouse Prisons 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:08.559 Al Zon Media. Hi, friends, and welcome to the show. 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.200 It's me James today and I'm very lucky to be 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.640 joined by Sam Hamilton, who is the senior litigation staff 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.079 attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.720 Hi Sam, Hi James, Thanks for having me. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.880 Yeah, thanks for joining us. And we are gathered here 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:31.560 today to talk about the new proposals that DHS has 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:38.720 to detain people in literal warehouses. Right, if people aren't familiar, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.680 maybe you could die out by explaining what those proposals 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.280 are and how they specifically relate to the areas where 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.000 you're organizing in Atlanta. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:47.600 Sure. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:53.880 So, around December of twenty twenty five, a journalist leaked 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:58.920 a list of about twenty different cities across the country 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:05.160 where where ICE was intending to open new detention facilities 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:10.840 in warehouses specifically. And this list contained the names of 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:17.000 the cities and the expected or projected occupancy of each 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:22.040 of these facilities. And so I live here in Atlanta, Georgia, 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:30.080 and there were two cities on that list with warehouses contemplated. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:35.199 One is located in the city of Flowery Branch, where 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.280 the warehouse there is intended to detain up to one thousand, 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.440 five hundred people, and the other is in the city 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:48.040 of Social Circle, Georgia, where ICE intends to use a 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:52.240 warehouse that is over one million square feet to detain 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.160 about eighty five hundred people that fast. 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.000 Like, I think that this would dwarf the capacity of 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.680 any like I'm trying to think of, there are maybe 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:05.160 prisons sort of bigger than that. 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.680 I don't know, but like in immigration terms, I don't 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:08.520 think there is anything. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.400 Yeah, I mean, you know, so for the last four 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:15.440 years or so, I've worked I've worked on various different 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.160 shutdown ICE campaigns here in Georgia, and for the last 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.480 four years I've been working with the campaign to shut 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.440 down the Folkston Ice Processing Center, which is an ice 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.600 facility in South Georgia pretty close to Florida, but it's 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:34.480 about a five hour drive from Atlanta, and that ended. 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.040 Up expanding last summer. 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.639 But the number of beds at that facility was projected 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.640 to be around three thousand, and at the time that 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.880 was going to be the largest ice attention facility in 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.520 the country. So to jump from three thousand to eighty 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.880 five hundred is yeah, it's massive, obviously. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:55.480 Yeah. 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.160 I mean people wanted like it's not fascism and left. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.280 It comes from the Fascio Rain area of Italy. Right, 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.919 Otherwise it's like sparkling authoritarianism or whatever. But like unless 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.800 you're looking for like a gate with our Beckmark Fry 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.760 on it or whatever, like like these are concentration camps. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.320 Like that, that is what this is. It was really 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.440 interesting in twenty twenty three we had out the outdoor 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.560 attention under the Biden administration, and like we didn't really 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:25.960 have much coverage in the US media when we were 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.280 participating in mutual aid there, but we'd had a lot 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.280 from non US media, like folks from Japan and Singapore 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:34.920 and Italy, and they just come and be like, oh, yeah, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:36.720 it's a concentration camp. And then they'd write the story 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.520 and be like they're these a concentration camps. And I 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.520 think I would never have got that pasted an editor 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.000 in LA or New York. To them, it seems so 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.840 self evident. Now we're just doing it on an even 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:51.280 bigger scale. I guess it's it's terrible. It's this shit. 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.160 So I know you've been organizing in social circles specifically, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:58.720 right or part of an organizing group, I should say, 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.760 that's been opposing this detention center. So I think it'd 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.880 be really instructive to people because either are all of 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:05.960 these are going to be all over the country, and 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.200 this won't be the only expansion of immigration detention we 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.080 see in the next few years, I imagine, given the 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.360 massive budget and the priority to the administration, can you 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:16.680 explain a little bit about like how that campaign got 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.440 started and then like the nuts and bolts of how 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:20.440 this is being opposed. 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.279 Yeah, So before I get into that, I think providing 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:29.000 some context on who the Social Circle community is it 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.680 will be, you know, would be instructive. So it's a 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.279 pretty small it's a very small city. It's got a 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:43.360 population of about five thousand people, overwhelmingly Republican, overwhelmingly white, 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.679 and pretty wealthy, Okay, And it's about an hour drive 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:54.839 outside of Atlanta. And in December of twenty twenty five, 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.920 a news article was published in The Washington Post announcing, 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.200 you know, the list of the twenty cities where these 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.080 warehouses would be would be popping up. And it was 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:10.080 that article that told the residents of Social Circle and 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.960 the elected officials of Social Circle for the first time 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.760 that this ice mega prison was coming to their community. 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.880 There was no notice to the city by ICE or 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:27.040 anyone in the federal government at all, certainly no opportunity 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.560 to respond, no opportunity for public input. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.440 So they felt really blindsided. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.080 Yeah, and I'm not from this community, and you know, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.080 I've I've met many of these people only for the 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:41.920 first time, you know, within the last couple of months. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.480 But I think it would not be so far fetched 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.760 to say that some of these people feel, you know, 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:52.000 especially the ones who identify as Republicans or as you know, conservatives, 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.760 I think they feel really betrayed by you know, by 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.880 their government, by their party. 0:05:58.440 --> 0:05:58.680 Yeah. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:00.359 And so, you know, a lot of these people, I 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.279 mean I've just described the demographic. I think many of 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.440 them have never been involved in organizing of any kind before. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.080 Some of them have, I think, but. 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.039 I think due to you know, their life circumstances, just 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.719 might not have found themselves in a place where they've 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.800 needed to organize for anything. So a bunch of these 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:26.040 residents got together and have been holding you know, in 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:31.320 person kind of town hall community meetings, and they held 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.960 one in January where they were about you know, I 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.600 think forty to fifty people in the room, and they 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.000 wanted to get together and you know, just have a 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.760 public discourse about what could be done. And I was 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:52.160 invited to this meeting because of my history of involvement 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:57.880 with shutdown campaigns here in Georgia. I got started with 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:04.440 shutdown campaigns in twenty when a nurse, a whistleblower who 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.680 worked at an immigration detention center here in Georgia called 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.480 the Irwin County Detention Center, alerted the public that there 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:15.760 was a doctor who was contracting with ICE who had been, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.640 you know, providing medical services to women detained in this facility. Well, 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:24.640 he had actually been performing non consensual and medically unnecessary 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:29.760 medical and gynecological procedures on women in ICE detention. This, yeah, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:34.200 and when these women spoke out about it to their 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.440 family members, to journalists, to their lawyers, to members of 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.680 Congress or staffers for members of Congress, they were retaliated 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.520 against by being swiftly deported and I'm talking put on 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:51.880 planes within hours of speaking to a congressional staffer. And 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.840 at the time, I was working at the University of 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.360 Georgia School of Laws Fort Amendment Clinic, where we were 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.640 providing you know, free legal service is to people across 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.800 the state including you know, helping people with getting access 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:09.280 to public records and suing the police and and you 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.640 know and federal agents. Yeah, when they were retaliated against. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.320 And so we represented those women. And it was through 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.640 my work at Irwin and you know, connecting with the 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.280 organizers there, that I got involved with shut down campaigns, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.160 or rather the shutdown Irwin campaign here in Georgia, and 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.560 then from there later got involved with the shutdown folks 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.840 in campaigns. So I had been asked to speak to 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.640 this group of people who I think were new to 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.040 the immigrants right struggle, to talk about, you know, what 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.680 it's like to try to prevent a detention center from 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:42.960 popping up in their community. 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.760 And they can say, like, it's not a community that 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.120 might traditionally be demographically the same as the people who 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:53.600 we associate with, like migrant advocacy, migrant activism. I guess 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.880 when a group like that comes into a moment like this, 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.440 there are some areas of like activism. I guess civil 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.400 society stuff where like white suburban folks have some experience, 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.480 right planning is one of them. Right, Like the recent 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.439 bike planes only go north south in San Diego is 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.920 because they think that those of us who can't afford 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.200 to live by the sea don't deserve to cycle safely. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:23.520 Like there are many other examples of this. But what 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.959 there were there like thoughts when they when they first met. 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.280 I'm really interested to know that. Like, they're obviously upset 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.840 and they feel abandoned and betrayed, but like, how did 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.839 they want to organize to prevent this? 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.040 Well, a lot of them were upset about the decrease 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:40.120 in their property value. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:42.880 That was what was really bricating. 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:48.400 Yeah, that was redicalizing, mom, same with the bike lanes. 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.720 Actually, oh yeah, I bet yeah. And you know, but 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.840 in addition to the property value stuff, it's also you know, 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:59.679 the strain that this would impose on their small community. 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.040 I mean, you know, a number of the people who live. 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.560 There might be of you know, well to do means, 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.680 but you know, their city police department employs a total 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:13.240 of fourteen officers and they have two on duty at 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.640 any given time. They have a fire department of you know, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.240 comparably you know, small size, and they have you know, 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:26.440 water and sewer infrastructure that was built to accommodate about 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.160 as many people as live there. Now, you know, between 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:35.120 four thousand and five thousand people. And it's that impact 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:39.000 that is also you know, really maddening and activating and 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.560 agitating to people. Those arguments are not new to us 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:49.040 who have organized in South Georgia and also very red areas, 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.840 a lot more rural and a lot less wealthy, you know, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.360 will try to We've canvas door to door in the 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.240 city of Folkston to try to ask people how do 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.720 they feel about this mega prison opening up in their community, 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.839 and a lot of people, you know, we're we're against it. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.960 Despite the fact government officials might try to bill it 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.920 as you know, an economic boon, you know, an employment opportunity, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:17.400 a lot of people said like, hey, I mean, I 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.640 don't necessarily want a prison in my backyard, but if 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.480 it's bringing jobs, then you know, that's what this community needs. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.839 That's something that I think makes Social Circle distinct from 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.240 the previous shutdown campaigns I've worked on in Irwin County 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.120 and in Folkston is that this isn't really an area 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:41.960 that is starved for employment or starved for you know, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:47.800 economic support, Like these people are doing okay. And you know, 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.960 another thing that makes it distinct is before all of 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:56.080 this warehouse business, the vast majority of facilities in this 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:00.240 country are formed through intergovernmental service agreements. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.480 You know, we're iggs's for sure, it is the acronym. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.439 But there are agreements between the federal government and the county, 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.520 the local government where the local government says, yes, you 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.760 can use our land or our facilities, and in exchange 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.000 you pay us, I mean in the case of folks, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.040 and it's a comparably measly amount. 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.000 It's only two hundred thousand dollars per. 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:21.240 Year, Jesus, not much. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:25.719 Yeah, even though the federal government is giving i mean 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.480 fifty million dollars a year to insert your favorite private 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.240 prison corporation here, you know, whether. 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.480 It's Courcivic or geogroup. Yeah, I mean your favorite. There 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:34.240 are only two. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.960 Really, yeah, not much of a joice. 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:37.199 Yeah yeah. 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.120 And so typically like we see this sort of like 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.200 co opting and manipulation of the local community and the 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.319 local government by the federal government, you know, coercing them 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.840 economically to you know, to take on these detention centers 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.560 or else. But here, I mean social like I said, 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.000 Social Circle is doing fine. They're not starved for economic investment. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.920 And I didn't you know, consult them at all. It 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:04.880 really just like you know, in the dead of night 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.520 just bought this warehouse from a private company and push 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:13.120 this deal through. So those are some aspects that I 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.120 think might throw you know, some of us who might 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.000 have been involved in these similar fights before, like for 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.120 a loop a little bit, because yeah, there's this assumption 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.319 I think by some of the local officials that the 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.040 supremacy Clause governs here and the federal government can do 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.640 whatever it wants. So there's no point in us trying 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:37.640 to use our local zoning ordinances or what have you 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:39.480 to try to put a stop to this, because there's 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.040 nothing that we can do, right, is at least what 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:44.199 you know, some people might be saying. 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.240 Yeah, let's take a break for advertisements. I can't think 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.960 of anything mean to say, I know, buy some shit. 0:13:50.040 --> 0:14:01.200 This have come from a don't buy anything you don't need. Okay, 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.920 we are back. So you were talking about this assumption 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:13.000 that the supremacy cluse would mean that the federal government 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.640 could build a mega prison in a warehouse in your 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.720 town without asking you if it could do that. 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.400 First, can you explain like how. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.000 People are able to use, like you said, like various 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.760 local tools to oppose this. 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:29.120 Like you said, it's a huge burden. 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:31.760 When I first read this story, I remember thinking about, like, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:37.080 just like the water and sewage demands of housing eight 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.600 thousand people would be crippling for the infrastructure in a 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.720 lot of places, So like, how are people opposing this? 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.480 Well, it's been really inspiring for me to see these 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.240 local leaders who, again many of whom have you know, 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.000 never been involved in activism we're organizing before. They've been 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:02.480 very consistent in holding demonstrations on a weekly basis at 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:07.280 the site of this facility, and have garnered the attention 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.560 of different media who have come and interviewed them. So 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.560 that's been one way that they've been trying to, you know, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.800 get their message out there. I was just talking about, 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.920 you know, the residents who are concerned from you know, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.200 sort of fiscal perspective and are concerned about, you know, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.160 their own property values and things like that. But there 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.640 are a fair number of people who are concerned about 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:32.040 you know, the core human rights abuses. 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.120 And you know, sures. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.080 Some of the lines might be well, this isn't the 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.040 right place, you know, our city is not the right 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:45.600 place for a detention center, suggesting you know, implying that 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.920 there are some places that are suitable for a detention center. 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:49.760 But there are a fair. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.280 Number of people in this community who who are opposed 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.800 to detention centers in general. I mean they see that 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.880 they see the violence that ICE is inflicting. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.440 In broad daylight on. 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:06.840 Public streets, and I think they're they're horrified, and they 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.240 don't want to be complicit in in something like that, 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.840 you know, coming to their community. And I do think 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.160 that along the way, I'm seeing more of a shift 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:23.560 in the consciousness or at least an openness to understanding 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:29.720 the different influences that bring us to the same table. 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:31.400 Yeah, it is. 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.440 It has been very cool, and we can agree that. 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:37.240 You know, we're not going to have one hundred per 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.760 unity of ideas, but we can have a unity of action, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:46.000 and you know, we can save these debates on you know, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.360 I mean whether someone is illegal or not, but you know, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.480 we can continue to have them along the way, as 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.640 we are also identifying the very concrete ways that we 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.200 can work together. And I'm thinking of one, for example, 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:06.520 I work pretty closely with some staffers for different members 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:10.000 of Congress. I mean in terms of like uplifting you know, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.680 human rights and civil rights abuses that we see in 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.399 detention centers because as part of my job, I go 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:21.720 inside detention centers, immigration detention centers in Georgia pretty frequently, 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:27.360 also federal prisons, and we'll meet with people and learn 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.199 about the conditions that they're facing and will you know, 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.439 fight for them to get released, and also share what 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.680 I learned from them with you know, different members of Congress, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:42.480 and most of our connections are with people who are 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.679 aligned with the Democratic Party, you know, I mean to 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:50.520 be to be frank, you know, I've never initiated correspondents 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.800 with a Republican but I think I kind of just 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.399 assumed that they wouldn't want to, that I wouldn't get 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.040 anywhere with them, or. 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.199 That they wouldn't you know, that they wouldn't talk to me. 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.160 But what's been effective and working. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.399 With this coalition of residents is some of these people, 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.120 I mean, yeah, like they you know, they've been card 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.720 carrying Republicans for a long time and feel that they, 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.080 you know, can wield influence over you know, certain Republican 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.359 elected officials and yeah, yeah, and one of them, you know, 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.080 I mean, well, I don't know how many of them, 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:27.480 but a number of these local residents have gotten Republican 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.640 you know, Mike Collins to come out against this ice facility. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.960 Yeah, that's especially right now in the Republican Party, and 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.520 like that that could be very difficult for them to do. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.639 And I sort of on it's not hugely sympathetic to 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.679 Republican politicians, and I would still like to see them 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:45.160 get better. 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:47.600 Like that's we want people to get better, that's the 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:48.000 whole thing. 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.840 And like I think for these people whose politics may 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.800 not be the same as ours, sharing the space, sharing 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.240 the movement, sharing this struggle. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.000 Like, I hope it makes people better. 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.720 I hope being exposed to people who are not of 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.800 the same background as you, be like class rized, race wise, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.520 politics wise, whatever, like makes people realize that things are 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.600 not quite how they're presented to them on the television 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.160 or in the media they consume totally. So I'm sure 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:20.160 that's yeah, Like I hope that it's positive. What can 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:24.720 like a local government do or even like elected officials do, 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.000 given that the elect officials on federal level do. Given that, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.760 I mean, I suggest appears to be operating like without 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:34.760 a great deal of oversight right now. 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:40.119 Yeah, I mean with each of these warehouses, there are 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:45.359 different circumstances around each of them. I've been really inspired, 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:50.840 honestly by the folks in Maryland who are dealing with 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:55.080 a warehouse, maybe multiple warehouses, I'm not sure. Yeah, where 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.000 you know, at both the local and the state level, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:03.560 they have really pushed for legislation that would effectively, yeah, 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.639 I mean, prevent these warehouses from existing at all. It 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:10.480 is a different set of facts than what we're working 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:15.200 with here in Georgia because there's more involvement by private actors, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.360 and so the government, you know, the local government can 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.320 can regulate them more. But Maryland is certainly not the 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.840 only place where where those fights are happening. And so 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.800 I would really encourage folks to, yeah, to learn from Maryland. 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:31.520 And I get you know, I'm talking about you know, legislation. 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.480 I mean, I will be the first to tell you 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:40.800 as a lawyer that I don't think legal tools will 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:42.280 liberate us. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.160 You know, the law will not make us free. 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:50.800 Sure, Yeah, And I do think it's the people power, 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.800 it's the coming together, it's the mass collective action that is, 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:58.639 you know, that's what's going. 0:20:58.520 --> 0:20:59.000 To do it. 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:00.639 And also there are multile well, you know, there are 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.560 multiple tools and multiplement instruments that we can they can wield. 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.040 And so right now, I mean with respect to the 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.000 Social Circle warehouse, ICE is saying that they intend to 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:16.000 detain people in their starting in April, jeez, in less. 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.760 Than two months. Yeah, and so right now, the. 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:23.280 Strategy truly is to use just like every tool at 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:28.720 our disposal, identifying, Yeah, like what legislation can be filed, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.760 what litigation you know, what lawsuits can be filed, what 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.560 you know, demonstrations, what kind of you know, canvassing, door knocking? 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:37.600 You know, you name it? 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.440 Like, how can how can people come together? How can 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:46.560 we try to identify which companies would be supplying the 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:52.800 labor to turn this warehouse into something, you know, where 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.840 people will be detained. I mean not that, not that 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.640 I think ICE gives a damn about making any type 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.640 of facilit habitable for humans. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.080 But there's gonna be there's gonna be some work that. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.040 Needs to be done in order to you know, turn 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:13.200 this you know, would be Amazon warehouse into a place 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:18.720 for people. And is there work that you know, local organizers, 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:19.920 because they're organizers. 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:22.399 We're all organ you know, we're all organizers. 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:27.520 Is there work that local organizers can do to try 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:32.160 to unite with laborers with workers who you know might 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:34.359 be working on this facility to try to like prevent 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:37.399 them or like city workers, Like can they prevent city 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:42.840 workers from like actually hooking up this warehouse to the 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:43.840 city utilities? 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:44.680 Right? 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.400 Yeah, yeah, presumably Yeah, that will be a building contractor, right, 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:52.200 Like they will want to build thousands of cells in 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:56.000 this giant Yeah. The coll of that stuff, and especially 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:00.520 with it happening so quickly, like you know, anything delays 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.120 that will cause it to at least slow it down. 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:04.600 I guess. 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:13.640 Yeah. 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:17.640 I think another angle that we haven't talked about yet 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:21.320 is the environmental angle, like with social circle, you know, 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:25.640 this is I mean a town of five thousand, it's 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.280 gonna trip. It's gonna nearly triple the number of people 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:33.200 in this place, and I mean and also triple the 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.880 amount of waste and sewage that's going to be coming 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:37.679 out of this place. 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:38.919 I mean, so that's one thing. 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.520 Another thing for people to look at is, you know, 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:47.520 what would the environmental impact of these warehouses be on 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:49.800 local waterways for example? 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:51.199 And that's what you know. 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:55.240 Temporarily put a stop on the detention facility in the 0:23:55.240 --> 0:24:00.000