Mario’s brother arrived in the US one year earlier, in 1988. What a difference a year made. While Mario didn’t have the money for an attorney and tried to get help from a notario, his brother received help from an immigration attorney and was able to successfully apply for asylum. Now Mario’s brother is a United States Citizen who was able to petition for his parents to come to the US legally. Mario, unfortunately, received inadequate legal representation. Yet he has been living his life, supporting his parents and paying his taxes for three decades. He’s also lived in fear that because of his immigration status he could be sent back to dangerous conditions in a country that he hasn’t set foot in since he fled almost 30 years ago. That fear was realized on Monday when ICE agents came to his door to follow up on an 18 year old court decision. ICE agents detained Mario and seven other workers at a workplace raid at a factory in Belmont-Cragin. Mario’s parents and brother are fearful that his deportation could have a ripple effect on the whole family. His mom, who already is in delicate health condition after having open heart surgery is having panic attacks at the thought of Mario being sent back to Guatemala. Mario did what he had to do to survive. Unfortunately he might have to pay for bad legal representation with his life. As a diabetic, Mario is also being denied access to the insulin pills he needs to take daily while in detention. CALL CHICAGO ICE DIRECTOR AT (312)347-2221 – AND ASK HIM TO GRANT MARIO A STAY OF REMOVAL. SIGN OUR PETITION HERE ASKING ICE TO FREE MARIO!

Juana is a mother of four and grandmother of two who lives in Asheboro, NC and has worked at the same textile company in High Point as a sewing machine operator for the last eight years. She arrived in 1992 from Guatemala, having been threatened by armed combatants, and applied for asylum status. She was denied in 1994, and then was offered a work permit while she appealed her status, which took six years. In 1999 her eldest daughter in Guatemala suffered a life-threatening illness, and she left the country and returned without permission in order to be her caregiver. ICE subsequently denied her appeal, and in 2011 took her into custody, then released her a week later. Since then she has reported to the Charlotte ICE office periodically for required check-ins, but last month, instead of accepting her attorney's plea for a stay of removal, ICE fitted her with a tracking device, and ordered her to prepare for voluntary departure, telling her she has until May 31st to leave the country, potentially leaving her husband, kids, uncle and cousins behind.

Update: We want to thank everyone who has signed this petition. We are not currently working on Yovani's and Santiago's cases, and we will update you as soon as possible to explain why. However, we still need your support for Jaime Martinez. Jaime is still fighting his deportation, afraid to return his home country where he could face the worst -- death. Jaime was driving to work when he was stopped by ICE agents who were looking for someone else. Even though he was not the person they were looking for, the ICE agents detained him anyway. Jaime is an active member in his community and a valued member of a Catholic congregation here in Athens. Please sign the petition and call the Atlanta ICE field office asking for Jaime's release: (404) 893-1210. His ID number in detention is A#216302323. Yovani Mondragon, Jaime Martinez, and Santiago Aguilar were driving to work early in the morning of Wednesday April 27th, when they where stopped by ICE agents who were looking for someone else. However, the agents detained them and took them to Irwin Detention center in Ocilla GA. Jaime, Jovani, and Gonzalo are an asset to their community. They have improved the lives of many people in Athens. From the spirituality perspective, they have created and participated in different prayer groups and events to respond to the gospel. They have served the most vulnerable of their fellow human beings, visiting hospices and hospitals to bring hope and happiness to those who most need it. Jovani Mondragon A#216302321 is an18 years old who came to the USA when he was 4. Unfortunately he is not eligible for DACA, a program that would have protected him from deportation and allowed him to get a work permit and a Driver License Jovani is in deportation proceedings, leaving behind a mother and 2 young bothers 8 and 13 years old. Santiago Aguilar A#2163023222 came to USA to help his 10 siblings who all depend of him, because of their extreme poverty in El Salvador. Santiago or Chago as friends know him has been living in in USA for more that 9 years, working hard and being involved in his faith community. He volunteers as a missionary visiting elders in hospices in Athens, bringing the Eucharist to the people who can’t come to church because of physical impediments, leading the church’s youth group, and linking to other groups in GA. Santiago is well known, respected, and loved by many youth in the community not just in Athens but across GA’s diocese. Jaime Martinez A#216302323 is also a long time member in his Athens community. He came to the USA to support his family back in Mexico; he is their only support. For many years he has organized educational events in his church, plus he visits hospices and brings the Eucharist to people with physical impediments. Jovani, Santiago, and Jaime will face great danger if they return to their country. The conditions in Mexico and Central America are dangerous. When people return from the USA they become targets for kidnapping or assault. Please sign this petition to ask Secretary Kelly to stop their deportation, helping them to stay in the USA where they can continue their mission as faith leaders in their community.

Eleazar Muñoz Hernandez has been living in the United States since 2002. He has been living with his wife and son in Warner Robins for the last 12 years. On April 17 he was stopped by Houston County Sheriff for supposedly running a red light and was consequently arrested for driving without a license. He is now currently at Stewart Detention Center. We are asking Secretary Kelley for his immediate release so that he can be reunited with his wife and son. Eleazar has been part of the migrant’s rights movement and of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) since 2010; he is a leader of the Warner Robins Comite Popular. Eleazar should not be punished for not having a driver’s license that the State of Georgia will not give him; he needs to work in order to provide for his family and driving is very necessary in Georgia, especially in rural parts. Driving while undocumented should not be criminalized. Please sign this petition so that Eleazar can be released and reunited with his 16-year-old son and wife.

During the past two weeks, immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center went on hunger strike, putting their lives and health on the line to protest the NWDC’s terrible conditions. Located on a hyper-contaminated superfund site, the NWDC is the largest immigrant detention center on the West Coast, caging over 1500 immigrants who are facing civil deportation proceedings. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts with the GEO Group, a multinational private prison corporations, to run the facility. We call on City of Tacoma leadership to take the following steps to protect immigrants and their communities from the terrible harms the NWDC creates. 1) The city Director of Finance, Andy Cherullo, must revoke business licenses that violate any local, state or federal law relating to public health or safety. The 2014 and 2017 hunger strikes have raised grave questions about detention conditions in terms of: quantity and quality of food provided; basic hygiene provisions for bathing and laundry for clothing; quality of health care; and abysmal working conditions for $1 per day wages. Given these persistent and ongoing issues, it is urgent that the City of Tacoma revoke GEO’s license to operate a business that, by its very nature, violates human health and safety. 2) We urge City Council to make emergency Ordinance No. 28417 permanent, removing correctional facilities as permitted use in M-2 and PMI districts in the Commencement Bay/Tideflats Superfund Site. Correctional and detention facilities house people against their will. As residential sites they do not belong in heavy industrial areas with associated pollution. 3) GEO Group’s private operation of the Northwest Detention Center means that it can currently refuse state public health agencies' request to ensure that the NWDC is safe enough for people to live there. We believe that the site must be shut down. Until that happens, the City of Tacoma should change its laws to ensure basic testing of water, soil and air conditions are not damaging the people forced to live there.

(Spanish translation below/ Traducción al español abajo) What would you do if you were getting deported to an unknown country? In this country, you have no family, friends, or money. This is the reality Byron Garcia is living in. Byron was born in Honduras but, when his father left the picture, his mother took him with her to Mexico where her family was. Like any parent, she wanted what was best for him so in 2001 when Byron was two his mother brought him to the United States. In February, Byron was detained and has been kept at the Louisiana detention center since then. Because he is locked up Byron hasn’t seen his family for months and is unable to finish high school. He is determined to continue his education to become a nurse and is eager to return home to help his mother take care of his siblings who are now 10 and 12 years old. Since Byron came to the U.S. at age two, he is DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) eligible. This means he can get a work permit, social security number, and a driver's license to continue finishing school. The only reason he hadn't applied sooner was because he needed his passport to apply and as a minor, he needed both of his parents to sign for him but, his father left them when he was young so he was waiting to turn 18 in December 23, 2016. Why would they send a DACA-eligible student to an unknown country? Byron wants to continue to live in the only country (USA) he knows and has grown up in. Sign this petition to prevent his deportation and support his dreams of becoming a nurse! _______________________________________________________________________________________ ¿Qué harías si fueras deportado a un país desconocido? En este país, no tienes familia, amigos ni dinero. Esta es la realidad en la que vive Byron García. Byron nació en Honduras pero, cuando su padre los abandonó, su madre lo llevó con ella a México donde estaba su familia. Como cualquier madre, ella quería lo que era mejor para él, así que en 2001, cuando Byron tenía dos años, su madre lo trajo a Estados Unidos. En Febrero, Byron fue detenido y a estado en el centro de detención de Luisiana desde entonces. Debido a que está encerrado Byron no ha visto a su familia desde hace meses y es incapaz de terminar la escuela secundaria. Está decidido a continuar su educación para convertirse en un enfermero y está ansioso por regresar a casa para ayudar a su madre a cuidar de sus hermanos que ahora tienen 10 y 12 años. Desde que Byron llegó a los Estados Unidos a los dos años, es elegible para DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Esto significa que puede obtener un permiso de trabajo, un número de seguro social y una licencia de conducir para terminar su escuela. La única razón por la que no había solicitado antes era porque necesitaba su pasaporte para aplicar y como menor, necesitaba que sus dos padres firmaran para él, pero su padre los dejó cuando era joven, así que esperaba cumplir los 18 años el 23 de Diciembre de 2016 para aplicar. ¿Por qué enviarían a un estudiante DACA elegible a un país desconocido? Byron quiere seguir viviendo en el único país (USA) que conoce y ha crecido. Firme esta petición para evitar su deportación y apoyar sus sueños de convertirse en un enfermero!

On Monday, March 27th, in a clear escalation from its already dehumanizing and violent tactics, ICE detained Wilmer Catalan Ramirez. At the time of his arrest, Wilmer was recuperating from an armed attack that left half of his body paralyzed and requires him to use a prosthetic leg. When ICE officials arrived at Wilmer’s home they did not identify themselves as ICE, instead calling themselves detectives and pretending to be looking for a suspect named “Rubio”. Wilmer's wife, Celene, asked the agents to leave as her husband was not in any position to see them and asked them to leave as she proceeded to open the door to go inside. As soon as she began to open the door, agents pushed her and made their way into the home at which point they proceeded to apprehend Wilmer. In this process, agents threw Celene on the ground as she was attempting to protect her ailing husband. Wilmer was also thrown into the ground and handcuffed; this exchange left him with a broken arm which was not tended to for several days following his arrest. Wilmer’s arrest, which took place without a warrant or transparent communication on behalf of ICE, is representative of aTrump era for ICE in which detentions are as violent as ever and continue ICE’s tradition of glaring human rights violations. This case is emblematic of ICE’s push to keep our communities in constant fear, without ever following their supposed protocol and aiming to instill panic and terrorize immigrant families. Wilmer has fought his case from within detention, but has been subject to abuse within detention since his arrest, including denial of critical medical care. On May Day, immigrant and Black-led groups filed request for information from the City of Chicago, as start of campaign to expose the role of the gang database in criminalizing and deporting community members. The request was filed on the same day that Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez filed a lawsuit naming the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department as responsible for sharing incorrect information with ICE that wrongfully identified Mr. Catalan-Ramirez as a gang member. In May, Wilmer filed a civil rights lawsuit against McHenry County Correctional Facility, Ricardo Wong, ICE’s Chicago Field Office Director, and the City of Chicago for triggering a nightmarish chain of events that left Wilmer imprisoned, in severe physical pain and mental anguish, and fighting his deportation. Since then, however, he has continued to be verbally abused, denied care, and re-injured due to the reckless disregard of detention center staff for his well-being. The situation has escalated to the point where Wilmer is afraid he will die in detention. We must get him out. Wilmer migrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2006 and was deported that same year as result of an ICE raid that took place in his workplace in 2006. Shortly after being deported, Wilmer returned to the United States and has since been living here. Wilmer is a part of a loving family; his three children US citizens and he is the main provider for his household. Please sign on to support Wilmer. He is being punished for standing up for his rights and ICE is attempting to place him in expedited proceedings because of his 2006 deportation. We want him free to heal with the care he needs.

Jorge Herrera is 21 years old, DACA eligible, and has lived in the US for the past 18 years with his mother Elena. On December 2016, Jorge was arrested by local police after his mother called 911 for help. Jorge suffers from mental health issues and on that day, he was having an episode. His mother believed the police would help her by de-escalating the situation and help her take Jorge to a hospital. Instead the police arrested him and the District Attorney's office threw the book at him. During the trial, Jorge and his mother received no translation services through their ordeal. They were advised to have Jorge plead "guilty" in order to access mental health support services but to this day no services have been provided to the family. He is now detained without bond at the York County Detention Center in Pennsylvania. Jorge has lived almost his entire life in the U.S. and is DACA eligible but ICE would much rather destroy another family than release him to the only place he calls home. Jorge needs mental health support services, not detention. Please sign this petition to ask that Immigration Judge John P. Ellington allow Jorge to be released from the York County Detention Center on bond and that ICE remove him from deportation procedings so that he can be reunited with his mother and to be able to seek the help he needs.

Cesar X is a young Guatemalan gay man who is currently in immigration detention in Virginia. The last 33 months of detention have only worsened his symptoms of PTSD and depression brought on by years of childhood trauma and being labor trafficked in the U.S. La ColectiVA is supporting his fight to be released. Cesar X has a community that wants to welcome him and help him thrive after years of detention. Cesar X needs people to stand with him in fighting for his liberation! On April 11 Cesar X has a hearing before Immigration Judge Rodger Harris. We want Cesar X to be released on his recognizance. Please sign this petition to support the release of Cesar X. La ColectiVA is also raising money in case the Immigration Judge instead decides to release him on bond. For more information on his story or to donate, please go to https://www.youcaring.com/2017freecesarx to donate. Any amount is appreciated! La ColectiVA is a collaborative led by Latinx people in Northern Vriginia #FreeCesarX #LiberarCesarX

Trump's administration, which has avowedly committed itself to the persecution and criminalization of all communities of color, places Noe under threat of deportation. Under the executive actions signed under the current administration, practically all undocumented individuals currently residing in the United States are considered priorities for ICE. This administration's rhetoric not only targets Noe for deportation, but seeks to further criminalize him as an immigrant. Noe, parent of a US-citizen and long-term member and active contributor to his community in Aurora, was placed in deportation proceedings after making a right turn during a red light 3 years ago. Police in Aurora handed Noe over to ICE custody, and as a result was detained in the Dodge Detention Facility for over an year - often times being placed in solitary confinement. It was only through community efforts to pressure ICE that Noe was released from detention in 2014. Since Noe was released he has been rebuilding a relationship with his 5-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and has established a loving home with his U.S. citizen partner and her three children. Under the current climate of ruthless persecution advocated by the current administration, Noe has decided to come out of the shadows and publicly face a system that seeks to uproot him from his community. At his next check-in on April 12, Noe will submit another request for Stay of Removal in order to stay close to his daughter and to be able to continue supporting his family. It is crucial that we are vigilant of Noe's case as we have seen how ICE has taken the opportunity to place individuals in deportation proceedings after attending their routine check-ins. We as a community must continue to seek justice until no more families are torn apart.

Every day, migrants fleeing structural violence and poverty travel to North America in search of a better future. They come with valuable skills and contribute to the cultural and economic growth of these cities. Passaic NJ, is one of the many towns whose economy thrives based on its migrant population. With 71% of its residents having a Hispanic background, and 40% born outside of the US, Passaic reflects the diversity of New Jersey, and is particularly affected by anti-immigrant federal policies. We demand a safe town for the thousands of hardworking and honest immigrants and refugees that have made of Passaic their home. We cannot allow federal policy driven by hatred and fear-mongering to harm our neighbors and turn us away from our core values. Immigrant rights are human rights. Cities such as Boston, New York City, Newark, Maplewood, East Orange, Jersey City and many other nation-wide have recognized the important contributions their immigrant populations have made to the prosperity of their region and are taking a stand. We ask local leaders, including the Mayor, Police Chief, and City Council,to add Passaic to the growing list of municipalities who acknowledge the benefits and contribution of migrant people and are standing up human rights. Want to get more involved? Email us at [email protected]! #sanctuarypassaic Image credit: bradsigal

Donald Trump just announced executive action that threatens any city that seeks to protect immigrant residents from his deportation machine. What he’s trying to do is roll back the leaps forward we’ve made in recent years but we won’t let him. In 2017, it’s the efforts to defend Black lives and protect migrant rights that make our cities safer, not Trump’s extra enforcement promises. To keep us safe, we need to evolve our local policies to make our cities real sanctuaries for all residents, not cancel them because of the illegitimate President's latest actions. That means a commitment to separating police from federal immigration enforcement AND addressing the policing that funnels Black and other residents to jail and places criminal charges on immigrant residents, making them a target for ICE agents. Tell our mayor and city council to stand up to Trump and take action that doesn't just symbolically defend immigrants, but transforms our city's policies to stop targeting us for imprisonment, risk of removal, and state violence at the hands of police and aggressive immigration agents. The illegitimate President's threats should be cause to embolden our city leaders, not an excuse to abandon our potential progress.