Manuel Abrego and Maru Mora Villalpando, of La Resistencia, will share “Fighting to End All Detentions and Deportations in WA State,” at Peninsula College’s Nov. 17 Studium General. The presentation, offered both in person and via Zoom, begins at 12:35 pm. Lesley Hoare and Kate Reavey will facilitate the dialogue.

La Resistencia is a grassroots organization led by undocumented immigrants based in Washington State working to end the detention of immigrants and stop deportations, according to the program’s website laresistencianw.org/ Originally founded in 2014 to support a hunger strike launched by people detained in Tacoma, Washington to protest their confinement, La Resistencia began under the umbrella of the national #Not1More campaign as “NWDC Resistance.” Today, members support and engage with people detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA who organize for “their own survival and in protest against the detention and deportation regime.”

Abrego has direct experience with the immigration enforcement system. He organized hunger strikes while in detention, one of those efforts lead to the end of a contract NORCOR County Jail in The Dalles, OR with ICE, and he’s been a leader with La Resistencia helping detainees since his release from detention in 2018.

Villalpando is the founder of La Resistencia and is a community organizer. She was born and raised in Mexico City.

The event is free and open to the public in the college’s Little Theater and live-streamed through Zoom at https://pencol-edu.zoom.us/j/82308557946, Meeting ID: 823 0855 7946.