By Jaimie Julia Winters
Martin Soto spent eight months in immigration detention, including four months in solitary confinement after participating in a hunger and labor strike at a Newark detention facility. He was finally released Oct. 6 after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jamel K. Semper that his continued detention was unlawful.
At a news conference Friday, Oct. 9, in Newark, he appeared alongside his wife, Gabriela Soto, and immigration advocates, stating his fight is not over. “I am going to fight for them, for those who have been deported, for those who have been locked in there for a long time,” he said.
Soto was detained after leaving his Kearny home to buy diapers for his children, according to his wife. He was held at Delaney Hall in Newark and the Elizabeth Detention Center.
Immigration advocates say that Soto’s experience highlights alleged abuses inside immigration detention facilities and the toll of federal immigration enforcement on families.
At the news conference, Soto described the psychological toll of his confinement.
“I was begging and asking God not to abandon me,” he said.
Meanwhile, his wife spent months trying to get him released while caring for their two children. She also suffered another devastating loss: a miscarriage at seven and a half months of pregnancy during her husband’s detention.
“I made it my goal. I made it my mission to take care of two kids, my husband, myself, and my miscarriage,” she said. “I made it so everyone is well aware that people do have persistence. People do have power.”
Strike over detention conditions
According to Soto and advocates who spoke at the news conference, conditions inside Delaney Hall prompted a hunger and labor strike involving approximately 300 detainees.
Gabriela Soto told Kearny Life in a June interview that the detainees were protesting what they described as spoiled food and inadequate medical care. Soto also alleged that detainees were required to work 12-hour days cleaning bathrooms without protective gloves for $1 a day and faced retaliation if they refused.
After the strike, Soto was placed in solitary confinement, according to advocates. He spent four months in isolation in the Delaney Hall and Elizabeth facilities.
Non-profit Make the Road New Jersey Director Nedia Morsy said Soto’s experience exposed the human costs of immigration detention and the consequences for families separated by enforcement actions. The group helps immigrant, working-class, and Latinx communities.
“After eight horrendous months in ICE detention camps, Martin is free,” Morsy said in an Oct. 7 statement. “What happened to Martin is a window into how much time and money ICE wastes tearing families apart.”
Morsy said Soto’s leadership during the strike encouraged other detainees to stand up for themselves.
“Our movement is indebted to Martin,” she said. “His leadership inside of Delaney Hall gave hundreds of people the courage to stand up for themselves, and he showed that fighting back is worth it.”
Legal challenge secured his release
Soto’s release came after his legal representatives filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his continued detention. U.S. District Judge Jamel K. Semper ruled that the detention was illegal, according to information presented at the news conference.
A new U visa certification was also filed on Soto’s behalf, identifying him as a victim of involuntary servitude, advocates said.
The legal developments provided a path to release after months of detention, but Soto said he intends to use his experience to speak for people who remain in custody and those who have already been deported.
“If we are all united together, we can put an end to this government,” he said. Advocates at the news conference called for an end to detention practices they consider abusive and for the closure of immigration detention facilities.
“Martin’s release shows that we can win even when it seems impossible,” Morsy said, adding that the movement must continue until everyone in detention is free.
A family’s struggle continues
For Gabriela, her husband’s release marked the end of an eight-month separation but not the end of the struggle that reshaped her family’s life.
She has said that the experience, including the loss of their unborn child, has made her more determined to continue advocating for detained immigrants and to push for detention centers to close.
The couple is also working to recover financially and rebuild their lives after months of separation and uncertainty. They are accepting direct donations through Venmo at @gabrielasoto-ve rather than using GoFundMe, according to information shared by supporters.
Martin’s return home has allowed the family to move forward together, but he said he is determined not to leave behind those who remain in detention.
Photo courtesy: Fear and loathing: Closer to the edge
