ATLANTA, GA (Roberto Gutierrez) - On October 11, thirteen members of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) departed from Atlanta to join with other undocumented people, families facing deportation proceedings, day laborers, and immigrant rights organizers in a civil disobedience that will shut down the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency and stop deportations from Phoenix, Arizona, for a day.
“The President has the authority to stop deportations,” explains Maricela Muñoz from Warner Robbins. “But until he uses it, we will begin to stop them ourselves. It’s what anyone would do whose family is threatened with being destroyed.”
The historic convening comes one month after seven undocumented migrants handcuffed themselves to the White House fence to demand the President expand the deferred action program he has already allotted to certain undocumented youth. More than 540 organizations have called on the President to suspend deportations as Congress debates reform in order to provide immediate relief to the unnecessary suffering caused by his deportation quota programs and to help propel legislative efforts past any obstruction.
While in Phoenix, GLAHR members will participate in two days of strategy and training in how to do individual casework that prevents deportations, explore models of local legislation that limits collaboration between police and ICE, and non-violent civil disobedience in the tradition of the great social movements throughout history. On Monday the 14th the convergence will culminate with a march and civil disobedience at the district ICE office organizers say is responsible for the record deportations and human rights crisis in Arizona.
Antonia Lozano from Fairburn says, “We can’t wait for Congress to stop playing politics when our families are being used as their football. I’m tired of living in fear of being taken away and not coming home to my family one day. 1,100 people deported every day may be a statistic to the beltway but to me it’s a family member or loved one. We’re going to Phoenix to tell the President, not one more deportation.”
More information can be found at www.notonemoredeportation.com
Follow on twitter at #not1more
Main #Not1More Deportation Conference Talking Points
● Until the President Stops Deportations, We Will Stop Them Ourselves
○ The President has the authority and the obligation to stop deporting our families. He has options to stop our suffering.
○ But if he chooses to place himself on the wrong side of history, we’ll be forced to do what anyone would do to keep our families together.
○ If leaders in the Beltway don’t have the courage to lead, we will. We’ll set an example that they will have to follow.
○ Through peaceful civil disobedience, we will stop deportations.
● Our Community Has the Power
○ It is immigrants who put our issue on the national agenda and it will be our own actions that create results.
○ The deportation machine can’t operate if we put ourselves in its gears.
● We Will Push for Inclusion at Every Level
○ We will stop individual deportation cases one by one
○ We will sue Sheriffs who use immigration policies to trample the constitution
○ We will pass legislation that break’s ICE’s hold on our communities
○ And we will push the President to actually lead on the issue so that it can’t be blocked in Congress.
● Right now, Immigration reform is a possibility; The President’s ability to stop deportations is a certainty. And it would help reform’s chances.
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