HELP MEDICAL FUND FOR EDDY

Hi, I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits.

This is Eduardo Samaniego Amaya and I’m writing to update you on how the donation you made in 2019 to the gofundme account created in my name to help with organizing costs was spent while I was in prison for not being able to pay 27 dollars after I forgot my wallet at home leading to ICE incarcerating me for almost FOUR MONTHS. This is also a message appealing for your support.

First I would like to thank you for having been part of the movement that organized across several states demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) release me. Your support through letters, marches and donations meant a great deal to me, even in solitary confinement I felt the love and warmth of the community I fought for every single day of my life for ten years.

While in prison ICE tortured me as they do to many other by denying food, denying me clothing and by putting me in solitary confinement (the dark hole) for weeks at a time as retaliation for speaking truth to power. What I experienced at the hands of ICE was nothing less than horrifying, it was inhumane and nothing less than a grotesque violation of my humanity and human rights. The memories of my time in prison still haunt me and have caused irreparable damage to my soul, my spirit and mental health. Prison is something I wish upon nobody, much less prisons ran by ICE.

Unfortunately I have sad and regrettable news to report to you: of the $30,000 dollars raised by my community $13,000 dollars were stolen by one of the account handlers (Jose Reyes), $9,000 dollars were rightly used by the Pioneer Valley Worker Center and allies to support the movement and organizing for my release. After experiencing the unimaginable torture by ICE I was forced to sign my “voluntary departure,” and after arriving in México I received $8,000 to support my mental and physical health and relocation costs. The person who stole the money went as far as telling members of the Pioneer Valley Worker Center (my heroes) that he didnot support me because I’m gay. Not wanting law enforcement to be involved, I determined this money as lost. I know many of you were righteously angry but I’m exercising mercy, this is the best message we can send as a community, even as this made my situation more precarious.

It is here where I would like to appeal for your support. Over the past three years since my deportation I have been seeing countless doctors to treat the fractures on my vertebrae and on my left hand, fractures I suffered after jumping from a balcony to escape the fire that burned 43% of my body, ruined my college career after having an incredibly successful first year at Hampshire College.

After the explosion, I had to learn how to speak again, I had to learn how to walk again over months of support from therapists and using a wheelchair.

I have seen many doctors to treat my scars that still cause me daily rashes, inflammation and pain.

I have seen countless of mental health professionals as I attempt to overcome my painful memories of the fire burning me alive with 1s, 2nd and 3rd degree burns and the horrifying experiences inside of prison and at the hands of ICE (gestapo) officers.

I am particularly dealing with the mental health scarring from seeing with my own eyes that I was sharing a prison with child migrants Donald Trump was locking up.

Today I’m in need of a hand up. Please help me reach the goal of raising $15,000 to be able to continue my treatments and through this support I will mitigate the debt I’ve taken on as result of my surgeries. This amount of money will specifically go towards covering the following:

$8,333 dollars will cover the debt I acquired for my latest hand surgery on my left hand. In this surgery the doctors made two separate openings on my hand, one to take the metal compound out of my hand and another to repair the damage done by the sharp screws to my hand nerves.

$3,000 will cover my mental health regime including medicine, mental health professionals including neuroscientists and psychologists for the next year.

$2,000 will cover the treatment of my fractured vertebrae with injections I could apply every six months to keep the at bay the unbearable pain I experience every day.

$1,000 will help me buy the special creams and treatments for my scars for the next year.

I know this is a lot to ask from my community, you’ve all have gone through the trauma of going from being elected Student Body President at Hampshire College, Competing in equestrianism for my college and being elected of the Five Colleges Consortium in Massachusetts to not being able to walk and having to receive skin from a donor to cover 43% of my scarred body.

It feels incredibly uncomfortable to make this plea for your support but I thank all of you who love me and who have encouraged me to seek my community for support.

You were witness of the terror I was subjected to as ICE tortured me for the work of my life as I dedicated every hour to fight for the rights of immigrants. You all marched in more than 10 states, you almost reached 100,000 signatures from friends, community and strangers demanding Donald Trump’s right hand, the despicable and most evil Steven Miller release me from prison. And you made thousands of calls moving Senators and representatives from several states personally contacted Georgia’s Conservative judges allowed me to be free on bail.

Unfortunately with Steven Miller at the head of ICE, having been apprehended in conservative Georgia where right wing judges work with private prisons by GEO and Donald Trump as president my faith was at the hands of some of the worse people in the history of America.

My pain became yours as your witnessed how I was moved between SIX DIFFERENT PRISONS, all for not having $27 dollars with me.

But let’s get real, my imprisonment was payback to our movement, for defending immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community (love is love), access to affordable healthcare and women’s rights to chose. For ten years I organized vigils in churches, synagogues, and places of worship. I organized groups of people to visit the sick and the incarcerated in jails such as the inhumane Stewart Detention Center. I personally responded to Donald Trump in my role as Student Body President when he attacked Hampshire College and I experienced death threats along with the President and staff at my college. I led many delegations of students to Washington DC, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Georgia, North Carolina and many other states to get incarcerated folks out of prison with the help of Democrats across the nation. I celebrated many victories in my quest to liberate immigrants from jail, I connected countless of people to free legal representation and personally put my life on the line getting arrested so that Georgia would allow immigrants to attend college in the state they called home. We made strides until Massachussets passed driver licenses and allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. I love my community and I would fight all over again without any doubt. It was my work hand in hand with countless of you that made Georgia elect two Democrat Senators and Massachusetts stand up for DACA students and all immigrants.

All I ask is that your give me a hand up so I can continue showing love to my community as I’ve done for 10years. I ask that you give me the strength to heal and continue to fight for the most vulnerable.

My heart stills beats with a passion and I want in the ring again, moving the masses to make this a better world, it is for this reason that I ask you donate what you can, please share on your e-mail list or with one supportive friend. Your donation is life-saving and I will make sure to repay through clear actions that lead us to freedom.

You can also use my Venmo account: @EddyComunica

Paypal:

@EduardoSama

Or Zelle: [email redacted]

without the “o,” at the end.

Thank you all. May god move your to support my endeavor. Blessings, always.