At state-run and ICE detention centers, cruelty is the point. Take action with me to shut them down.
Dear Amnesty supporter,
I’m outraged by President Trump’s mass deportation and detention machine. And there’s no worse example than the cruel detention center in the Florida Everglades, the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Immigrants being detained at Alligator Alcatraz, a makeshift site, have endured appalling state-sanctioned abuses, including maggot-infested food, overcrowded cages, overflowing toilets, and a severe lack of medical care.
The first order of the day in this facility is cruelty, and Amnesty has been working hard to shine a light on just how brutal and inhumane this and other detention centers are.
That’s why I’m proudly speaking up today alongside Amnesty, demanding that the Department of Homeland Security shut down Alligator Alcatraz and every state-run and ICE detention center across the U.S.
I just signed my name to this petition to Secretary Kristi Noem.
In honor of Human Rights Day, will you add yours, too?
The Trump administration’s crackdown is making our country a scarier place than I can ever remember. It’s not just that they’re putting people in cages, it’s that they love putting people in cages.
But Amnesty is fighting back every day: working to free people from detention, and going to these facilities in person to document and expose abuses, advocate for their closure, and prevent more from opening.
And I can tell you, without a doubt, our voices are urgently needed to bring more attention to what’s happening to immigrants and refugees in this country.
One thing I keep telling myself: We may not turn the tide tomorrow, but we can save a few fishes. Every single action counts to help stop the Trump administration and governors like Florida Governor DeSantis from detaining people in places where there are no courts, judges, or oversight.
I’m thinking about these despicable cages, where people are being chained to the ground in the hot sun, held in prolonged solitary confinement, denied clean water and hygiene, and refused medical treatment.
These aren’t places designed for justice… they are places designed for suffering.
That’s why we can’t look away. We have to show up together and speak out against the disgusting cruelty of these detention centers. And we have to believe that what we do together matters.
I’ve been a proud Amnesty member for over fifty years, helping to start chapters in the early 1970s in California, promoting Amnesty while on tour, joining other musicians in raising our voices for freedom, and standing up for human rights and human rights defenders in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the former Czechoslovakia, and so many other places.
I support Amnesty International because I know they have the expertise, the clout, and the reputation to get results—with backing from millions of us. That’s why their staff was able to access the Krome ICE Detention Center in Florida, where they documented and publicized the appalling findings and helped mobilize public opinion against such dehumanization. (And this is just one of many detention centers Amnesty has exposed, including the El Paso Processing Center, one of the most notorious ICE facilities in the country.)
As ICE plans to massively expand their detention and deportation efforts, we must draw a line. We won’t accept cruelty, torture and other abuses. I’m proud to be working with Amnesty to shut these facilities down.
I hope you’ll join me. Take action to demand the permanent closure of every one of these detention centers.
I’ve always had a hard time with those who just sit around hoping someone else will do something about the world’s problems…I’ll take activism any day instead.
Because it’s what we do together that matters.
Thanks for standing up with me to take action today. Together, we can make a difference.
In solidarity,
Joan Baez
P.S. Can I share a poem I recently wrote? It’s called “This Is Not Optimism.”
I just wasted a day and a half writing
a long-winded response to the question
Are you an optimist?”
Really?
In this shitstorm?
Are you kidding me?
The simple answer is:
No.
I have never been an optimist.
Does that mean I ever gave up
the fight
against tyranny?
No, I never did;
most likely, I never will.
I used to be a pessimist until
someone suggested it was
a waste of time, so I’m trying to quit.
Being an optimist may be
a waste of time, too, but
at least it’s less depressing.
Be an activist instead.
Carry your light out
into the shitstorm.
Keep your eyes on the prize
and shout “Glory hallelujah,
goodness will prevail!”
This is not optimism;
this is a dance.