A group of people lined the sidewalks outside the Westmark Hotel in downtown Fairbanks Tuesday evening to protest an Alaska Native corporation’s role in running immigration detention centers.
Northwest Alaska’s NANA Regional Corporation was holding what it called an informal meeting inside the hotel Tuesday evening. According to a Facebook post, it was a chance for Fairbanks shareholders to hear the latest from NANA leadership and share ideas for the future. KUAC was told by a NANA official at the door to the conference room that members of the media could not attend.
Outside the building, street lamps spotlighted the group of protesters, who gripped signs in gloved hands. The signs demanded change from NANA leadership, with many of the messages sticking to a single word: “Divest.”
David Leslie, a NANA shareholder, organized the protest, which included the signage but no loud, organized chanting. He said the relative calm was by design.
“We have no choice to be shareholders. The only way to lose our shares is to die. So, this is about making shareholders feel empowered and making sure they are educated and aware about what’s going on,” he said.
NANA has faced criticism from some of its 15,000 Inupiaq shareholders – like those at the protest, who say they’re upset about the Native corporation contracting with the federal government to manage security at multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
The Alaska Native corporation’s subsidiaries have secured $1.2 billion in contracts over the last decade to work with ICE, according to recent reporting from Bloomberg Businessweek and KOTZ in Kotzebue, and detainees have alleged negligence and abuse at ICE facilities managed by NANA’s Akima division.
Lisa McEnulty is another NANA shareholder who attended Tuesday’s protest, and she said the Alaska Native corporation’s role in supporting the centers doesn’t reflect her values.
“I’m angry. I’m depressed,” she said. “So, since figuring this out, learning about this, it’s, like, disgusting. Why should we be making money off of people’s suffering?”
In an April statement, NANA defended its contracts with the government-owned detention facilities. The statement said that the company has robust policies and programs to ensure its operations align with legal and ethical expectations. The April statement also said that NANA is limited in what they can share about specific contracts, but that they’re committed to accountability and transparency to shareholders.