On February 21, Bay Area resident Ulises Peña Lopez was detained in Santa Clara County and transferred to the Golden State Annex Detention Center in McFarland, California. ICE agents brutally beat him, leaving him hospitalized. While recovering, he was arrested directly from his hospital bed—without his family or attorney being notified. The Golden State Annex has faced prior accusations of medical negligence and restricting detainees’ access to legal representation.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation members traveled from SoCal to McFarland on Saturday, demanding the release of Ulises Pena Lopez from the Golden State Annex. Rapid Response of Kern members were also present, showing their solidarity.
As members of the coalition stood outside the gates of the detention center showing solidarity and waiting for other participants, other family members were being turned away from the gates as they awaited for the visitations with their loved ones. A worker allegedly told one of the family members that they were not being allowed inside due to the presence of PSL.
However, the protest hadn’t yet begun, so no disruptions were caused for this to occur. Upon hearing this, PSL decided to move to the A & M and to the corner of Mi Rancho Market, with respect to the family members who were patiently waiting to be let into the facility.
Monica, a volunteer from Rapid Response Kern, shared why she was present: “ I’m here to bring awareness to Ulises Pena because what happened to him was wrong and unlawful,” she said.
Immigration authorities have since been making their way throughout California, carrying out Trump’s agenda of mass deportations.
“We are here today in McFarland, California, demanding the immediate release of Ulises Pena Lopez, after he was brutally assaulted, kidnapped basically by ICE agents. He was hurt so badly that he was hospitalized, detained from his hospital bed, away from his family. He was then transferred here to the Golden Annex in brutal conditions, which is almost a prison,” said Lainy, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Ventura County.
Lainy is also a member of VC Defensa, a coalition that serves the Ventura County community members with Rapid Response hotlines and calls for the abolishment of ICE. Lopez has been denied his legal representation and medications by the Golden State Annex.
“We stand together firmly with our community to demand an end of all Border militarization and an end to the cruel, unjust immigration systems that currently exist and target black and brown communities,” said the activist Lainy.
Emi, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation Los Angeles, has been with them for four years and traveled from Los Angeles to show her solidarity for Lopez and his family.
“ I’m from Los Angeles, and we are here to demonstrate in McFarland that Ulises Pena Lopez must be released. He has been denied his access to his lawyers, his medications, his community. ICE brutally beat him and then arrested him from his hospital bed. This is a violation of justice and dignity,” said Emi.
She believes that everyone in California needs to unite for his cause and other similar causes as immigrants are actively being targeted.
“We are stronger, our movements are stronger, when we can all fight together. I recently worked on a case in El Monte, California, one of the poorest areas in LA County. It has some of the highest rates of food stamps, or CalFresh. ICE had entered an apartment building in the neighborhood where they captured-kidnapped a mother and her son. The mother is a caretaker of a woman receiving cancer treatment, so her whole support system was severed because of ICE’s cruelty. ICE has only spread fear and hatred; they have never saved anyone,” said Emi.
