but now also meeting w/ Bangladeshi #immigrant hunger strikers at #NIIC

MartinOMalley's final words: instead of giving them due process, we're just rolling out more barbed wire. #NIIC #StarvingForJustice

he sure NEEDS visibility around here.

Martin should get more attention.

And issues like Starving for Justice need more visibility in general around here (meaning things not Primary).

So much energy expended on the pie-fights. We all have to do better, myself included.

WE do our best.

Don't miss Presidential Candidate @MartinOMalley speak at the #NIIC at 11:15AM and his plans for immigration. @thenyic see you all there!

Realizing he is the best candidate on immigration and refugee issues by far.

- this time Bangladeshi Americans #NIIC

DRUM ?@DesisRisingUp 6h6 hours ago
Martin O’Malley Just Met With Hunger Strikers To Prove A Point About Immigrant Detention http://thkpr.gs/3732081 via @thinkprogress



Over the last two months, hundreds of immigrant detainees have gone on hunger strikes across the nation to protest their prolonged detention. Not many people have noticed. And despite the fact that many of the detainees are seeking asylum in the United States because they’re afraid of being persecuted if they’re returned, politicians have yet to make changes to the conditions at detention facilities.

That’s why Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley personally met with former hunger strikers and their family members on Tuesday in an attempt to elevate the issue of immigrant detention.

O’Malley met with two hunger strikers, Mohammad Aminul Islam and Abdullah Jobayer, who are Bangladeshi nationals affiliated with the Bangladesh National Party, the country’s second largest political party. They were among the first wave of 54 detainees to launch a hunger strike at immigration detention facilities back in October.

All of the men on hunger strike were approved for their credible fear findings, a preliminary step in the asylum review process. The ICE agency established policies in 2010 stating that asylum seekers who pass their credible fear interview should be automatically considered for parole from detention. Nonetheless, some of the hunger strikers have been held in immigration detention anywhere between nine months and two years, even though the average detention time hovers around 31 days.

The detainees told O’Malley that the “only memorable part” of their detention was the “one to two hours that we got to spend outside.” Only 19 of those detainees had lawyers, according to an immigrant advocate.


Bangladeshi hunger strikers, spent a yr detained even after proving credible fear. #NIIC #StarvingForJustice pic.twitter.com/yNqOs4u6AW

— RI4A (@RI4A) December 15, 2015

O’Malley ended the meeting by criticizing immigration detention, stating that “instead of giving them due process, we’re just rolling out more barbed wire,” according to Reform Immigration for America, an immigrant advocacy group present at the meeting.

O’Malley’s meeting is significant given that families have yet to meet with other Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom support lenient immigration policies for undocumented immigrants and limited immigration detention for immigrants.

read more: http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/12/15/3732081/martin-omalley-immigrants-hunger-strike/