By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Department of Corrections received and detained 42 men in the Anchorage Correctional Complex over the weekend who were arrested outside of the state by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, amid a federal immigration crackdown.
The department released the names of the men who are originally from 22 different countries, including India, Vietnam, Egypt, Peru and Russia.
Two men were transferred out the day after they arrived on Monday, according to Betsy Holley, a department spokesperson. Forty men remain in custody at the Anchorage jail facility.
Holley said the men are expected to be held in the Anchorage facility for about a month. The men who were transferred were sent to Washington state, but she could not say where, she said. She referred all questions regarding where they were transferred from, their length of time in custody and the protocol for the transfers to ICE officials.
ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
The state has an existing contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, for all federal detainees, or those facing federal charges, including awaiting hearings for immigration status or deportation. On May 1, the rate of federal reimbursement to the state increased from $202.21 to $223.70 per day.
The state policy with the U.S. Marshals Service does not specify if “federal detainees” means arrested and charged in Alaska or from out of state.
Alaska DOC had previously detained 11 people arrested by ICE this year, as of the end of May, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Alaska’s Corrections Commissioner Jen Winkelman was also not available for comment.
Community members rallied outside the Anchorage jail on Monday night in support of the men, drawing a crowd of over 80 people, according to Michael Patterson, an organizer with the Anchorage chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a community group and part of a small national political party. The demonstration condemned the Dunleavy administration for participating in the nationwide immigration crackdown.
“Essentially, what has happened is that Gov. Dunleavy has turned the Anchorage Correctional Complex into an ICE detention facility,” he said by phone on Tuesday.
He said the demonstrators are calling for the families of the men to be notified that they are in Alaska, that they receive proper medical care and that they receive adequate translation services.
“Our biggest concern in PSL Anchorage is that they’re not going to receive the proper and adequate medical care, because the Department of Corrections does not even do that for Alaskans that are in DOC custody,” he said.
The group runs a confidential 24-hour hotline to report ICE activity in Anchorage, provide resources and support, and dispatch a team of trained volunteer observers to document arrests.
“The goal is that they’re there for documentation purposes,” said Cynthia Gachupin, a volunteer who has worked as a victims rights advocate, by phone Tuesday. “It’s not to escalate a situation or to put anybody else in danger. Because, I mean, these families are already really frightened when these things are occurring. The goal is to be able to help them, and not to make a situation more tense. But documentation of an ICE event is super important.”
She said documenting arrests helps individuals as they’re moved through ICE custody and detention, and helps families track them. “A lot of these families don’t know where their family members are. And now, if they’re moving and moving and moving them, like how are they going to get in contact with them?” she said. “It’s just really wrong, I think morally as human to human, I don’t think under any reason we should be treating people that way.”
