I wanted to update you incredible people about what we have done with the money you donated to detained immigrants’ commissary accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic!
Thanks to your generous contributions, we raised $2,042! With this, we funded 14 people’s commissary accounts, some of them 2 or 3 times because they have no family to help them. Early on in the pandemic, detainees still had to buy their own soap. Many still struggle to obtain basic hygiene supplies. Your kind donations added to their human dignity and told them that people on the outside see them, even behind bars.
Unfortunately, the Morrow County Jail and ICE facility became 100% COVID positive, as we warned. Thanks to an ACLU of Ohio lawsuit and tremendous advocacy from many of you, no new ICE detainees have been brought into this facility. However, it has reopened for county inmates held on criminal charges, and these men and women are still at risk.
As the ICE population dwindles at Morrow County, we have been funding commissaries in Seneca County and other places across the US. Sadly, some of the people we are in touch with have been or will soon be deported, despite the pandemic. If they have money left in their commissaries, they can take it with them as they start over. Some of the men we are talking to will be homeless when they arrive in their native country, so this little bit of cash really helps.
All this to say, please keep donating. Your money goes directly to people in need, with no cut at all to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. And if you can’t donate, please share on social media! Here are some sample posts to make it easy (Facebook, Twitter), but feel free to write your own and tag @tramontela on Twitter or @OhioImmigrantAlliancePublicPage on Facebook!
And if you want to stay in touch, please join the Ohio Immigrant Alliance email list (see “Stay Informed” on right side) and private Facebook group.
Thank you so much. You inspire me!!!!