San Jose community members go to ICE Detention Center where Ulises Peña Lopez is held

McFarland, CA - On March 2, nine community members from the South Bay took part in a car caravan from Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose to the Golden State Annex ICE detention center in McFarland. The community members rallied near the detention center to show support for Ulises Peña Lopez, a South Bay man who was recently brutalized by ICE, resulting in his hospitalization. Lopez was transferred from the hospital directly to the detention center without his family or legal team being notified.

 On February 21, Lopez was in his vehicle and getting ready to leave his home in the South Bay, when ICE agents arrived and arrested him. Despite Lopez invoking his rights to remain silent, to speak with a lawyer, and to not exit his vehicle without seeing a warrant, ICE officers violently smashed his car window with a baton, dragged him out of his vehicle, and beat him in an alley.

 According to his family, Lopez has several preexisting health conditions, including a blood clot, heart issues, a spinal disorder, and knee injuries. This brutal attack by ICE caused Lopez to collapse and struggle to breathe, resulting in his hospitalization. ICE shackled Lopez to his hospital bed and denied him access to his lawyer and his family, as well as to food, water and medication.

 ICE waited until Lopez’ family went home for the night on February 22 before transferring him to the Golden State Annex detention center, over 200 miles away, without first notifying Ulises’ attorney or family.

 On March 2, nine South Bay community members made the four hour drive to Golden State Annex, which is run by private prison corporation GEO Group, in order to show support for Ulises and his family and to advocate that he be released and allowed to return home to his community in the South Bay.

 People rallied near the detention center with signs and banners reading, “Free Ulises.” Sebastian Salinas, community organizer with Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, read a statement from Lopez’ family about his case.

 “Ulises is not just a victim of this abuse; he is our beloved brother, husband, father, friend and nephew,” read Salinas. “He is deeply loved by all who know him, and this violent act against him has left our entire family and community heartbroken and enraged.”

 ICE’s brutality against Lopez comes in a wave of increased ICE activity in the South Bay. The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, a local coalition that has been organizing in defense of Lopez, reported in late January that ICE had detained multiple people, primarily in San Jose’s predominately Chicano East Side neighborhood.

 The Rapid Response Network is circulating a toolkit for the Free Ulises campaign, where supporters can find his family’s GoFundMe, as well as call-in and email-in templates to contact ICE and elected officials to demand his release.

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