Below is the liturgy written by Rabbi David used in protest at the North West Detention Center on Hoshana Rabbah 5780. Inspired by the reconstruction of the Hoshana Rabbah liturgy by Rabbi Ezra Weinberg to put attention on the climate crisis, Rabbi David used the words of La Resistencia to create the liturgy below. Over 100 people recited this liturgy as they paraded around the sukkah built at the detention center to bring attention to the hunger strike by hundreds of people being detained inside calling to #ShutDown#NWDC. The word “Hoshanah” is a conjunction of two Hebrew words meaning “save us, please!” and is chanted at this season calling for a year of liberation ahead on the heels of the Jewish New Year. Here, Rabbi David reinterprets “save us” to “let us take action to save ourselves and support the actions of others for liberation” - thus the ‘translation’ as “shut it down” here.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[Announcing! We are working to] end immigration detention!
[Believing] that immigrants belong with their families and communities.
The [C]losure of this facility and nothing else can mitigate the suffering here!
We can [D]ecrease immigration arrests [by] ICE no longer ha[ving] a local place to detain people!
[E]ndorse! the call to shut down the NWDC!
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
The [F]ederal government has deliberately implemented a steady rise in immigrant detention...detain[ing] more than 55,000 people per day, [with] a budget that sets into motion the business of caging people for money.
[G]EO Group and ICE say they are improving the facility, they have just expanded the number of people caged in the state of Washington -- from 500 to 1,575 since the facility opened…[and have] plans to expand the detention center in violation of Tacoma’s municipal code. If we don’t shut it down, it will continue growing!
Thus, let us [H]alt all detention expansion, and shut down the facility
[I]mmigration detention has no place in Washington State, or anywhere else.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[J]ust [to] ask questions to medical provider[s]! ...We have to go at 5am to go to “sick call” [and] ...The doctors don’t even do anything about it whenever we go…
They [K]eep saying that this is [a] “detention center” but they treat us like criminals in jail/prison.
[L]ights don’t go out at night. Our bodies can’t rest because it doesn’t recognize that it’s night time.
[M]old and bugs, maggots, blood, hairs and even screws [are found] in their food.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[N]ational strategy! The NWDC is one in a network of over 200 facilities across the country where migrants are caged. Ending the practice of caging migrants will require concerted action, and this shut-down campaign is part of a national strategy to challenge the existence and expansion of immigrant detention.
[O]pposition to their incarceration [has been made] clear [by people detained] through hunger strikes, work stoppages, and other forms of protest.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[P]eople of Japanese citizenship and descent during World War II were sent to concentration camps [marking] the first major sweep involving immigrant detention [in the US].
[Q]ueer and trans people, people living with disabilities and serious illnesses, and people who are pregnant and/or parenting, [as well as] for many [other] populations, detention brings extra suffering!
[R]amen is a hit” because there is nothing else to eat. Plus it costs $0.57/ top ramen while we only get paid $1/day
[S]hutdown of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[T]hirty years ago, ICE did not exist and immigration authorities rarely detained people while processing their deportation cases. The US does not have to detain people.
[U]nder ICE custody throughout the US, this is the 19th hunger strike at NWDC in the past 5 years, and is one of many staged nationally in 2019, most recent[ly] in ICE facilities in El Paso, Otero and Louisiana.
[[V]oices raised, as individuals and organizations, we stand with the] Hunger Strike at Tacoma NWDC Call[ing] for Humane Treatment and [a] Shutdown of [the] Facility
[W]ashington [State] has a long history of violence against immigrants, tracing back to the 1885 Tacoma Method of burning down the homes of Chinese railroad workers and expelling them from Washington Territory on the railroad.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[X] marks this spot as belonging to the Puyallup People and we call for the shut down of this facility and the return of this land to the tribe.
They [Y]ell at us like children [when] they sa[y]...they treat detainees humanely. When there is any confrontation, they don’t solve the problem until there is actually a fight.When there is any confrontation, they don’t solve the problem until there is actually a fight.
[Z]ero detention here or anywhere!
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[Announcing! We are working to] end immigration detention!
[Believing] that immigrants belong with their families and communities.
The [C]losure of this facility and nothing else can mitigate the suffering here!
We can [D]ecrease immigration arrests [by] ICE no longer ha[ving] a local place to detain people!
[E]ndorse! the call to shut down the NWDC!
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
The [F]ederal government has deliberately implemented a steady rise in immigrant detention...detain[ing] more than 55,000 people per day, [with] a budget that sets into motion the business of caging people for money.
[G]EO Group and ICE say they are improving the facility, they have just expanded the number of people caged in the state of Washington -- from 500 to 1,575 since the facility opened…[and have] plans to expand the detention center in violation of Tacoma’s municipal code. If we don’t shut it down, it will continue growing!
Thus, let us [H]alt all detention expansion, and shut down the facility
[I]mmigration detention has no place in Washington State, or anywhere else.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[J]ust [to] ask questions to medical provider[s]! ...We have to go at 5am to go to “sick call” [and] ...The doctors don’t even do anything about it whenever we go…
They [K]eep saying that this is [a] “detention center” but they treat us like criminals in jail/prison.
[L]ights don’t go out at night. Our bodies can’t rest because it doesn’t recognize that it’s night time.
[M]old and bugs, maggots, blood, hairs and even screws [are found] in their food.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[N]ational strategy! The NWDC is one in a network of over 200 facilities across the country where migrants are caged. Ending the practice of caging migrants will require concerted action, and this shut-down campaign is part of a national strategy to challenge the existence and expansion of immigrant detention.
[O]pposition to their incarceration [has been made] clear [by people detained] through hunger strikes, work stoppages, and other forms of protest.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[P]eople of Japanese citizenship and descent during World War II were sent to concentration camps [marking] the first major sweep involving immigrant detention [in the US].
[Q]ueer and trans people, people living with disabilities and serious illnesses, and people who are pregnant and/or parenting, [as well as] for many [other] populations, detention brings extra suffering!
[R]amen is a hit” because there is nothing else to eat. Plus it costs $0.57/ top ramen while we only get paid $1/day
[S]hutdown of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[T]hirty years ago, ICE did not exist and immigration authorities rarely detained people while processing their deportation cases. The US does not have to detain people.
[U]nder ICE custody throughout the US, this is the 19th hunger strike at NWDC in the past 5 years, and is one of many staged nationally in 2019, most recent[ly] in ICE facilities in El Paso, Otero and Louisiana.
[[V]oices raised, as individuals and organizations, we stand with the] Hunger Strike at Tacoma NWDC Call[ing] for Humane Treatment and [a] Shutdown of [the] Facility
[W]ashington [State] has a long history of violence against immigrants, tracing back to the 1885 Tacoma Method of burning down the homes of Chinese railroad workers and expelling them from Washington Territory on the railroad.
Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Hoshanah! Shut it down!
[X] marks this spot as belonging to the Puyallup People and we call for the shut down of this facility and the return of this land to the tribe.
They [Y]ell at us like children [when] they sa[y]...they treat detainees humanely. When there is any confrontation, they don’t solve the problem until there is actually a fight.When there is any confrontation, they don’t solve the problem until there is actually a fight.
[Z]ero detention here or anywhere!
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