Problem Chylde: Learning & Writing

Tell me what is the difference between a woman who is a citizen and a woman who is not a citizen when both can die inexplicably and the system is indifferent as to how it happened? 

Blanca Aguilar describes her 44-year-old sister, Ana Romero, as being a happy, joyful person who just wanted to go back to El Salvador.

Ana spent the last nine months in jail awaiting deportation back to El Salvador, back to see her two sons.

But Thursday, August 21^st Blanca and Mario received a call saying Ana was dead after she was found in her jail cell, with a sheet wrapped around her neck.

I’m going to say something a little unconventional:  If you are going to be humane to migrants who come to our shores, then let them live.  If you insist on “cracking down” on people like animals and sending them away, then send them away.  Don’t make someone’s desire to live and to survive a foray on death row.  

Because that’s what happened with Ana Romero: she was placed in a Kentucky jail cell until her death for trying to work to support her elderly mother and her two sons in college in El Salvador.  

Why must people die because they want to affirm their lives and preserve the lives of those they love?

Two and a half weeks later, there’s still no preliminary autopsy report from the Franklin county coroner and Blanca and Mario say no one’s telling them much of anything.

They also say Ana would never have committed suicide. 

Ana Romero, like Lavena Johnson, deserves better to honor their memories.  The ambiguities need to be cleared, and people need to be held accountable.  

I resent the dismissiveness of the headline about Romero.  ”Woman dies in jail of apparent suicide; family says death is suspicious.”  Thank God the media do not form our families, where the apparent could deceptively mask the reality and there’d be another unexplained ICE death on the conscience of Lady Liberty’s feet.

Please take the time to sign the petition (via website or via email; see below) and visit other bloggers who have written on the issue:

The Unapologetic Mexican

Vivir Latino

Latino Político

American Humanity

Citizen Orange

The Sanctuary

Full text of the petition (you may endorse by sending your name/organization’s name and location to either of these emails or both – brich-at-transy-dot-edu; lauren-dot-martin-at-uky-dot-edu):

Justice for Ana Romero Petition

 

The recent tragic death of Ana Romero while in the Franklin County, Kentucky jail raises many questions of morality, decency, and the humane treatment of persons awaiting deportation. Ana Romero (44 years old) was living and working in Shelbyville cleaning houses in order to support her 92 year-old mother and two grown sons in college in El Salvador.   

In January, she was arrested at home and detained by state police for giving federal immigration officials a false identification card, along with a previous immigration-related violation. This type of police action is part of the nation-wide ICE dragnet operation being carried out in places like Shelbyville, Kentucky; Pottsville, Iowa; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Laurel, Mississippi, in which immigrants are being subjected to raids and detentions. These operations have torn families apart, including many U.S. citizens, and has instilled pervasive fear in our communities owing to the terrorizing tactics used by the authorities and the lack of due process afforded the immigrants afterwards. 

Whether or not you agree with the criminalization of immigrant workers and families who have entered the U.S. without documents, the consequences of the Ana Romero case should touch a nerve.  During her nearly 8 month imprisonment in the county jail while awaiting deportation, Ana was distraught and suffered from medical ailments, refusing to eat the food which she told family members “…stinks and there is something wrong with it.”  

Shortly before her death, she was placed in solitary confinement. Her jailers have yet to explain why this was done.   

Although the state autopsy indicates that Ana Romero died of asphyxiation by hanging, the circumstances of her death continue to be investigated. Her family has requested a second opinion because they do not believe she took her own life, given that she was waiting anxiously to return to her country and her loved ones. 

The delayed public disclosure of the autopsy results and the silence from the relevant authorities only highlights the potentially scandalous nature of this case. Is there something they are trying to cover up?

 

The family of Ana Romero and the general public deserve answers.  

What kind of treatment do persons awaiting deportation receive in jail?   

Why was Ana Romero placed in solitary confinement?   

What was the true cause of her death?   

How can deaths such as these be avoided in the future?  

And finally the biggest question of all:  While we all know that immigration policy needs fundamental reform, how many hard-working immigrants, many U.S. citizens, across the U.S.  are going to have to suffer from the deepening climate of repression and fear created by the racist and exclusionary policies implemented by ICE? These policies continue to criminalize immigrants who have come to work from south of our border. 

How much longer will low-paid, hard-working communities of immigrants be traumatized by raids and detentions?   

@                                      @                                     @                                     @     

        

Justice for Ana Romero Petition     

We, [organization's name], [OR] I, [individual's name], the undersigned family members, organizations, and individuals, motivated by our consciences and our faiths, demand answers to these questions.  

We demand justice and a transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ana Romero’s death.  

We demand a full reporting of all the information learned, so that her family and loved ones can get an honest and complete explanation of how and why she died in the Franklin County jail and so they may have spiritual closure.  

We demand moral, decent, and humane treatment for all persons in jail, regardless of their legal status, national origin, skin color, or language.  

We demand the due process rights guaranteed in United States Constitution. 

Finally, we ask all public officials involved in this situation, from the federal government, to the Kentucky state government and all other state governments, to the county and city governments all over this land to implement a moratorium on the raids and deportations of immigrants until such time as we obtain a fair, humane, and comprehensive immigration reform that our country so badly needs.  

Recently such a moratorium was granted to all immigrants in Louisiana that rushed in after Katrina to do the back-breaking work of helping clean up New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. This moratorium should be implemented nationally and immediately to stop the terror, the destruction of families, and the economic disruptions causing so much fear and grief in our communities. 

Let’s solve our broken immigration system in a way that benefits all and treats all fairly, in accordance with national and international standards of justice and human rights.  

Shelbyville, Kentucky

[Date] 

Signed,

[Your Name]

[Organization (if any)]

[City, State Country]