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

Vigil in Raymondville, Texas

SOUTHWEST WORKERS’ UNION

Press Release
Jan. 08, 2009

Contact: Anayanse Garza, Southwest Workers’ Union (SWU)

Phone: 956/ 207-2571

E-mail: anayanse@gmail.com

“Our choice now is no longer between violence and nonviolence, but rather between nonviolence and nonexistence.”.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Immigrants United Without Borders
Fast For Our Families Solidarity Action: Jan. 08, 2010 - Jan. 09, 2009

What:       End Solidarity Fast at Faith Base Vigil at Willacy County Detention Center
Where:     Willacy County Processing Center, 1800 Industrial Blvd.  Raymondville, Texas 78580
When:      Jan. 9,2010 at 4:00 PM


Raymondville, TX –   Southwest Workers’ Union’s Committee of Immigrants United Without Borders, joined by the Austin caravan of Texans United for Families and Grassroots Leadership will begin a fast tonight Jan. 08, 2010 and break the fast after participating in the Faith Based Vigil Jan. 09, 2009.  Our action is in solidarity with the half-dozen families directly affected by deportation who began an indefinite fast on New Year's Day taking sanctuary in a South Dade Church in Miami, FL.  The Fast for Our Families calls on President Obama to act now to stop separating immigrant families and destroying our future. 

     We will break our fast after attending the Faith Based Vigil at the Willacy County Detention Center, Known as "Tent City” in Raymondville, Texas. The vigil is sponsored by groups including United Methodists and Pax Christi.  The privately operated detention center, housing approximately 3,000 immigrants, is the largest in the Nation. The Center is operated by Utah-based Management and Training Corporation under contract for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

      President Obama must act immediately to keep our families and communities together and to stop the exploitation and oppression of immigrant workers.  Despite the recent announcement of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Florida's immigrant communities and allies feel that neither Congress, nor the Obama Administration is doing enough to ease the suffering of immigrant communities. In fact, there has been an increase in the raids, deportations, and separation of families that outraged immigrant communities during the previous administration. WE SUPPORT just and humane immigration reform that includes equal access to education, an end to the separation of families, worker's rights, and a pathway to citizenship.

 Fast for Our Families and the Trail of DREAMs-  Our action is in support of Florida's Pro-Immigrant Community Began an Indefinite Fast in Miami and Walk to D.C. (January 1, 2010) to Demand Real Change from President Obama. A half-dozen families directly affected by deportation and supporters began an indefinite fast on New Year's Day and are taking sanctuary in a South Dade Church in Miami, FL.  The Fast for Our Families calls on President Obama to act now to stop separating immigrant families and destroying our future.

     We also support the Trail of DREAMs-a walk from Miami to Washington DC.  Both events are demanding that the Obama Administration act now to stop the separation of immigrant families and the deportation of DREAMers (four brave students from Miami embarked on a long journey across the southeast, all the way to Washington, D.C. Jan.01, 2010). Members of the Fast For Our Families and the Trail of Dreams are being joined by community supporters.

      Our struggle for justice is the same spiritual journey as faith communities around the globe and leaders that came before us, such as Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi. We fast to strengthen our spirit but also because we are hungry for justice and our families are starved of the love that comes from our unity. We fast because we believe in a peaceful resistance to our oppression but understand that resistance is essential.    
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