Photo Credit: Xuesen Zhai
More than 200 Japanese American and migrant communities including labor allies gathered in August at a town hall in Seattle, WA to call on elected officials to stop repeating history. The event was co-sponsored by Tsuru for Solidarity, Densho, Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, Seattle Japanese American Citizens League, and the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee. Featured speakers were from La Resistencia, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Seattle, United Auto Workers 4121, and the International Migrants Alliance Pacific Northwest. Staff from WA St. Governor Bob Ferguson, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, U.S. Congress woman Pramila Jayapal, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell’s office attended listening to the concerns. Attendees requested a guarantee to the safety and well-being of migrant communities ; shutting down the GEO Group-owned Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA; end collaboration between the Immigration Customs Enforcement and the WA St. Dept. of Corrections; and to stop deportation flights out of King Co. Int’l Airport.
