SPOKANE, Wash. — The two Venezuelan asylum seekers who sparked a mass protest in downtown Spokane after being detained during what they thought was a routine immigration check-in are still being held by ICE in Tacoma.
Cesar Alexander Alvarez Perez and Joswar Slater Rodriguez Torres, who goes by “Randy,” were taken into custody last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Spokane. The men were shackled at their hands and feet before being transported to the detention facility in Tacoma.
Former Republican Spokane County Commissioner Shelly O’Quinn, who has been advocating for the men, visited them Friday at the Tacoma facility. O’Quinn described the conditions as inhumane and said both men appeared scared and exhausted.
“They’re scared. They know that they can’t go back to Venezuela,” O’Quinn said. “They entered the United States legally. They did what we asked them to do.”
During her visit, O’Quinn was allowed to see Randy through a glass window. She said he cried throughout their meeting.
“He cried the whole time, and he just talked about how he worked his whole life to not be in a situation like this, that he made the right decisions, and it was Friday evening and he hadn’t been allowed to shower yet,” O’Quinn said. “The conditions that they are living in are inhumane.”
O’Quinn also saw Cesar, who was being held just five windows down from Randy.
“As soon as he saw me, he just burst into tears, and I it broke my heart. It just broke my heart,” O’Quinn said.
Former Spokane City Council president Ben Stuckart, who was arrested during the anti-ICE protests, spoke with Cesar by phone for the first time Monday night.
“He’s in a small room by himself. 23 hours a day. Then they go to another room for the hour. In that room, you can’t even see the sky. There’s a vent where you can feel air at least, but he’s pretty sad,” Stuckart said.
Both O’Quinn and Stuckart want to raise awareness about what’s happened to Ceasar and Randy, saying they’ve heard of others in similar situations.
O’Quinn said Cesar and Randy were productive members of the Spokane community before their detention.
“They were outstanding citizens here in our community. They have jobs, yet we throw them in jail and we treat them like criminals,” O’Quinn said. “What are we doing? And we’re not giving them due process. That’s not who we are as a country. We’re better than that.”
The advocates are now working to have both men released on bond. O’Quinn and Stuckart have committed to ensuring the men appear for their scheduled court hearings if released.
O’Quinn has set up a GoFundMe to help bring Alvarez Perez and Rodriguez Torres home. For more information or to contribute, click HERE.
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