A lot has been happening, more than can be summarized here. The world is on fire, Medicaid is under attack, and already those in power have ramped up their targeted harassment and deportation threats against our neighbors, loved ones and coworkers…among a host of other anticipated and also unforeseen atrocities. We know it can and will get worse. We don’t say this to fear monger, we say it to prepare ourselves for the fights ahead and to be real.
We also know who are people are, we believe in cross movement solidarity, and we practice hope. Let’s keep showing up for each other.
We wanted to share some updates from comrades René and Ángel’s respective support and defense campaigns–since their cases and self-advocacy is central to how we can keep showing up for sex workers, queer and trans fam, immigrants and racial justice organizers.
René (they/she) is a 2020 uprising defendant, Korean sex worker, journalist, & former political prisoner who recently returned to Chicago on probation after seven months in federal prison in Alabama. They’ve finally found a job, but are in need of community support to find a place of their own – which will be difficult due to her federal record. The feds will soon begin taking money from them for restitution & this will continue to place her in a position of financial distress.
Please consider donating!
Venmo: rdmurp
Cashapp: $PrummPear
GFM link here.
Ángel (she/hir) is a currently incarcerated 2020 uprising defendant, undocumented immigrant, and Mapuche butch lesbian. She will face deportation to Chile as a result of a politically overcharged case related to the 2020 uprising — despite being in the US for over 20 years.
ICE will pick hir up at release on April 1 and begin removal proceedings. Ángel is going to fight like hell to continue hir life in the US — and she’ll be in ICE detention until a verdict is reached. If found guilty, she wouldn’t be able to return to the US for a minimum of 20 years – but probably a lifelong ban due to the political nature of the case.
In 2020, millions of people cheered on those who took political risks in the name of Black liberation & police abolition. The chats of “We Keep Us Safe” means community care and refusing to abandon each other in crisis, and Ángel needs us to fight with hir.
FMC (Federal Medical Center) Carswell is a federal prison in Ft. Worth, TX that is notorious for human rights abuses. Because it is a medical facility, the prison holds more trans people than average due to providing hormone treatments.
Last night, we received word from Ángel (she/her) that she has not been able to access her testosterone for about a month. As a result of Trump’s executive order this week, police came to the prison and took about ~20 trans women away with zero warning, most likely to be sent to a men’s prison. The women were sobbing in fear and physically assaulted as they were dragged away. This happened yesterday (1/24) around 3pm and resulted in a prison-wide lockdown for about 3-4 hours.
Ángel was also told yesterday (1/24) that they would be coming for the transmasculine people today (1/25) to be sent to ad-seg (separation from general population) while…
“Trump decides what to do with them.”
“You should have seen the evil looks of triumph as they escorted the trans women out of here… They just took them crying. The rumor is they’re all getting sent to men’s prisons. There’s talk about us transmascs getting sent to ad-seg until “Trump finds a place for us.” They’ve refused to give me my testosterone shots everytime I’ve asked.”
“A guard that tells me a lot of info did mention that ICE was told that they have 90 days to do all their deportations – “Worst Go First” is what the news was saying – so a lot of us immigrants are freaking the fuck out about what the fuck we’re supposed to do. Everyone’s getting torn from their families. I had so many of my friends (most of us in here are immigrants) just shocked to hell about what happened.“
Ángel was initially told that she would be deported at her release on April 1 – but if what the guard said is true, this could be a lot sooner. She is not fighting the deportation case and will sign over the right to any court proceedings so that she can return to Chile and regain freedom as quickly as possible.
Cashapp: $PunkWolfe2
Venmo: Loba-Cabrona
GFM link here.
Ángel was recently featured in an article about the impact of Trump’s new executive orders targeting trans people in federal lockup–you can read that piece, “Trans Women in Federal Custody Face the Terror of Being Transferred to Men’s Prisons” from Shawn Musgrave at The Intercept, here.
You can stay up to date in real time on both these comrades cases and how best to support them, by following the free.all.dykes Instagram account.