Fast for Our Families

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Why We Are Fasting

On New Year’s Eve, a half dozen of us had our last meal and entered St. Ann’s Mission in Naranja, Florida, just south of Miami. We have vowed to consume only liquids and not eat another meal until the Obama Administration hears the voices of all the families torn apart by deportation. We need the Administration to act in its executive authority now to:

1. Suspend the deportation of immigrants with American families, especially families with U.S. citizen children or spouses until Congress acts to fix the broken immigration system. 

2. Send the Secretary of Homeland Security to South Florida to meet with us, the fasters, and hear from us firsthand the conditions that moved us to fast.

In the meantime, we will continue our fast indefinitely. We are asking all those of conscience, especially those that are losing a friend or family member to the broken immigration system, to join us in the Fast for Our Families.

Support the Trail of DREAMs

On January 1st, 2010, a small team of brave, passionate young immigrant students from Florida’s Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER) will embark on a 4-month long, 1,500 mile walk – the Trail of Dreams. As they travel through the southeastern United States, this courageous group will be seeking meetings with political and civic leaders, joining in rallies and vigils, and reaching out to the media - galvanizing support for immigration policy reform in communities that might otherwise be without a voice.       

Visit the Trail of DREAMs at: http://trailofdreams.net/Home.html

Hunger Strike in Bayview, TX

SOUTHWEST WORKERS' UNION

FOR IMIMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2010 CONTACT: Anayanse Garza, 956.207.2571, SWU RGV
70 Detainees Hunger Strike at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Bayview, TX:
Began On National Day of Action Against Sherriff Arpaio,
The Hunger Strike grows in Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.”- MLK, Jr.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 18, 2010, 60-70 immigrants at the Port Isabel Detention Center called the Southwest Workers’ Union to notify the public that they were on Hunger Strike since Saturday January 16, 2010, the National Day of Action Against Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ.

Although retaliation of Hunger Strikers is almost certain, the strike grew yesterday in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream for a world where Justice and Human Rights for everyone, including immigrants, is possible.

THE REASONS LISTED FOR THE HUNGER STRIKE WERE:
Solidarity with the People of Haiti in their time of greatest need
 Solidarity with Comprehensive Immigration Reform
 Solidarity with the Fast For Our Families in Miami, Florida and Jean Montrevil and his family in New York
 Solidarity with the March against Sherriff Arpaio and against his abuse of authority and militarization of the US-Mexico border
Respect Human Rights

THEY CALL FOR:
1. Suspend the detention and deportation of immigrants with U.S. citizen children, spouses, and immigrant students until there is resolution on the passage of comprehensive immigration reform;
2. Work permits for immigrants with U.S. citizen children and spouses whose detention and deportation have been suspended until there is resolution in Congress on the passage of immigration reform;
3. Creation of an honest, transparent process by which the best interests of communities, families, and chil-dren are weighed before detaining and deporting any individual
4. The right to Due Process
5. End the abuse of Human Rights in detention (lack of medical access, indefinite detention, inadequate food, physical and verbal abuse)
6. End the unjust deportation
7. End raids on immigrant communities

They released their statement by calling Southwest Workers’ Union to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. The Dream Dr. King had begins with breaking the silence. Because as Dr. King said, “there comes a time when silence is also a betrayal.” According to detainees their struggle is the same as all the immigrants and people.

For more information call: Anayanse Garza at 956.207.2571