Email ICE and Demand: #FreeKarim
This April, Karim Golding—an undocumented Black Muslim Jamaican immigrant—began his fourth Ramadan in ICE detention at the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, known as one of the worst immigrant prisons in the country [1].
Like that of many other Black Muslim immigrants, Karim's case illustrates the compounding effects of anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, and xenophobia in our carceral system. Back in 2006, Karim was a 21-year-old up-and-coming musician living in NYC when he was targeted and arrested by a federal task force investigating hip-hop performers as part of the federal "War on Drugs." After a mistrial, Karim was sentenced to prison. Karim appealed his sentence — and after a lack of evidence was found to support his conviction — he was re-sentenced to time served: a staggering ten years in prison.
But Karim didn't get to go straight to his family after he was finally released: his ten years in federal prison were immediately followed by a transfer to ICE detention and a threat of deportation to Jamaica — a country he has not known or seen since he was 9 years old.
While imprisoned, Karim helped break the story of the lack of proper diagnosis, medical care and treatment that incarcerated people were receiving as COVID-19 ran rampant through Etowah, blowing the whistle and getting the story in national outlets like The Intercept [2], NPR [3] and Democracy Now [4].
In the aftermath, Karim was confined to indefinite solitary confinement for over a month for simply calling on the detention center to supply COVID-19 tests and PPE to ensure safety for everyone at Etowah [5].
Karim has now tested positive for COVID-19 twice — and in a short period of time has began exhibiting serious "long-hauler" COVID-19 symptoms, alongside now suffering from liver disease, abnormally high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.
Despite being granted a stay of removal by the courts and multiple court orders to release detainees at high risk from coronavirus, ICE has refused to release Karim.6 It's clear that ICE's motivations aren't rooted in much more than anti-Black Islamophobia.
That’s why during this Holy month of Ramadan and beyond, MPower Change, New Sanctuary Coalition, Freedom to Thrive, and many more have come together to ensure ICE #FreeKarim before Eid.
Send an email to interim New Orleans ICE Field Office Director Diane Witte and acting New Orleans ICE Field Office Director Josh Hartnett demanding his release NOW.
Sources:
1. “‘The Worst Place Ever’ Is ICE’s Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama,” The Daily Beast, 08 June 2018
2. ““Burials Are Cheaper Than Deportations”: Virus Unleashes Terror in a Troubled ICE Detention Center,” The Intercept, 12 April 2020
3. “'A Ticking Time Bomb': Advocates Warn COVID-19 Is Spreading Rapidly Behind Bars,” NPR, 28 April 2020
4. ““Horrifying Neglect”: COVID-19 Deaths in ICE Custody Spark New Calls for Mass Release of Prisoners,” Democracy Now, 27 May 2020
5. “Immigrants Detained by ICE Say They Were Thrown in Solitary for Requesting Covid-19 Tests,” In These Times, 02 Dec 2020
Art credit: @tommyevich
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