Lizbeth Mateo is an undocumented law graduate and activist. She came to the United States with her family at that age of 14 and enrolled in high school right away, where she quickly learned English. Lizbeth always had her eye on higher education, but knew that her undocumented status would present challenges to her and students like her. So, Lizbeth began organizing, working with other youth, school administrators, and community members to fight for the rights of the undocumented community. Lizbeth was one of the first undocumented youth to risk deportation, to demand the immediate passage of the Dream Act, when she was arrested for stating a sit in inside Senator McCain’s office in 2010. Despite the failure of the Dream Act, Lizbeth continued her work with the immigrant community. But she knew the pain of so many young people who had been forced to return to Mexico due to family separation, so in 2013 Lizbeth left the country briefly, traveled to Mexico as part of the Bring Them Home campaign, and returned with eight other youth. The Dream 9, as they came to be known, demanded to be allowed to return home to their families and called for immediate family reunification. Lizbeth and the Dream 9 were allowed to return home after 17 days in detention. Lizbeth returned home just in time to attend Santa Clara University School of Law, from where she graduated this past May. Since she applied for DACA in October 2015, USCIS has sent Lizbeth not one but two letters of intent to deny due to her participation in the Bring Them Home campaign. The first letter came only days after her law school graduation. Lizbeth has received the support of several members of Congress, the Dean of Santa Clara Law, law professors, organizations, and community members. Denying Lizbeth’s request for DACA would send a message that political expression in support of immigrants’ rights will be punished. As professors, academic professionals, attorneys, and members of the community, we ask that USCIS reconsiders its Notice of Intent to Deny and grant Lizbeth’s DACA application.

Sergio Ledezma Caballero migrated to the US in 2003 to offer a better life for his family. After being racially profiled and stopped by the police in 2015, the better life Sergio was building for his family came to an abrupt halt. Sergio was separated from his family and sent to Eloy Detention Center, where he has been held for over a year. His wife, Adela, is extremely sick with a pulmonary embolism, which is causing blood clots, and his two sons need him desperately. We are asking for Sergio to be released based on humanitarian parole. Not knowing how to deal with Sergio’s case, Adela tried many things, she asked help from an attorney and was defrauded they gave her wrong information and asked her to sign fake documents at her home. It’s been one thing after another with this family, and now Adela’s illness is becoming more severe. Sergio and German are their sons. The oldest son Sergio plays football and is a sophomore in high school. He says it’s not fair to see such a hard working parent like his father be taken away; he can’t understand how these injustices happen. German, the youngest, says he misses playing basketball with his dad and wants his family reunited. Throughout all of this, the boys have felt alone not knowing how to best help their mother and are having to figure out how to take on parental roles at such a young age. The two boys really need a father right now, during their teenage years is one of the most important developmental years of a boy’s life. Although Adela is doing everything she can, she is suffering from deep vein thrombosis and was told by doctors to be in bed rest. Unfortunately she cannot rest as she is the sole provider for her family at this time and finds her health suffering and can not prioritize her needs. Knowing the stress of not having their father and the toll that it has taking on the family has made Adela become very stressed, which affects her health. Sergio should not be kept in Eloy any longer. Forcing Adela to be the sole income earner for the family puts not only her own life but her family’s on the line as well. Having her husband in detention is putting Adela at risk for heart and lung failure or death. This is a crisis. They need their father back home. We are asking people to please sign the petition to support the Ladezma family and tell the Enrique Lucero, ICE Director of Phoenix Arizona to release Sergio. He needs humanitarian parole now, his family depends upon it.

Miguel Alcudia is a dairy worker and leader of the Vermont based human rights organization Migrant Justice. Miguel became a community leader after his wages were stolen on a Vermont dairy farm where he lived and worked. He organized his co-workers to stand up to their abusive employer–and got involved with Migrant Justice. This experience inspired Miguel to be a leader in the Milk with Dignity campaign calling on large corporations to source their milk in compliance with the human rights of farmworkers. Miguel participated in the campaign to successfully secure a commitment from Ben & Jerry’s to join the Milk with Dignity Program. He has played a crucial role, as a farmworker spokesperson on Migrant Justice’s education team, educating other workers about their rights and raising awareness of the public at large about the plight of immigrant workers. Miguel has also participated in region-wide efforts to build connections between immigrant rights and racial justice movements. He is now an active leader of Migrant Justice’s farmworker Coordinating Committee--its main leadership body. But on September 22, as Miguel was leaving his farm his co-worker tipped him off that he was being followed by an unmarked police car. When he arrived in the town of Vergennes, VT, undercover agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him and took him into custody. Allegedly, Miguel came to the attention of ICE because his visa expired. In a conversation with Miguel’s attorney yesterday, an agent claimed that Mr. Alcudia had been targeted for arrest as a “2D priority” (“aliens who … have significantly abused the visa or visa waiver program”). However, under any reasonable interpretation, overstaying a visa should not be considered “significant abuse.” Miguel is currently detained at Strafford County House of Correction in New Hampshire with $21,000 bail. This is the second detention of a Migrant Justice leader in recent months. Both Victor Diaz and Miguel Alcudia are public leaders of Migrant Justice, a fact that was commented upon by ICE agents during both arrests. Furthermore, during yesterday’s arrest, ICE agents told Mr. Alcudia that another community leader, mentioning them by name, would be their next arrest. This clear and direct threat against a community leader on the basis of their public activities advocating for human rights is extremely troubling. Miguel has already received the support of pastors, labor leaders, university students, and hundreds of his fellow farmworkers. He is an important figure in his community and his continued detention does harm not only to Miguel but to the farmworker movement for human rights that he has led.

Gualberto is a one of the day laborers that was detained during a raid in Chicago. The raid is is yet another example of the ways our communities in Chicago are criminalized and forced to subject to invasive technologies and tactics used by police and ICE. We are organizing to release Gualberto and to demand an investigation and an end to these civil rights violations.

In January, Chicago ICE agents conducted two separate raids that led to the detention and immediate deportation of the Garcia family – Reynold Garcia, Karen Margarito-Pineda and their two children – an Illinois family living in the suburb of Palatine. In once instance, ICE agents showed up at the Garcia family’s apartment misrepresenting themselves as local police in order to enter the property. Without Karen’s consent they searched her home and in a disturbing sequence of events immigration agents interrogated one of her underage children without a warrant or her permission, in a clear violation of their civil rights. As a result of the home raid, Karen and her children were detained and eventually deported. Despite DHS policy that prohibits immigration raids in “sensitive” locations, including churches, less than 24hrs after detaining Reynold’s wife and children, ICE agents targeted him while he was at the Christian Pentecostal Center. In order to take Reynold into custody, immigration agents intercepted Noel Coria, Reynold and Karen’s housemate, and fabricated a false story. They took Noel’s phone and began messaging Reynold pretending to be his friend. The messages that Reynold received said that Noel was involved in a car accident. Consequently, Reynold called Noel but another person answered the phone. This individual stated that they were local police and needed Reynold to show up at the scene of the accident. After confirming that he was at the Christian Pentecostal Center, unmarked cars arrived to pick up Reynold, insisting that they were local police officers. Reynold boarded the car with these officers to later find out that they were ICE agents and that he was being detained. All four members of the Garcia family were deported, without the opportunity to fight their cases and denounce the egregious actions that resulted in their expulsion from the United States.

A mother is in desperate need of your help. 21 year-old has been in detention at Stewart Detention Center for a year and three months. Wilhen has an asylum claim, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement is refusing to release him. He has family in Duluth, Georgia that is willing to take care of him; he is not a flight risk because his entire family is here. Wilhen D. Hill Barrientos came to the United States with his 15year old sister on July 2015; they were apprehended by border patrol. His sister was eventually released to her mother who lives in Duluth, Georgia, but Wilhen has been detained for 1 year and three months. Judge Trimble will not make decision on the case because on his last court which took place on, December 15, 2015 the audio was defective, and a result there needs to be another court date, but while this is happening Wilhen continues to be in detention. Judge Trimble wants to re-do the entire case. We are asking for help from the community to put pressure on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Wilhen while his case is being processed. Release Wilhen from detention!

Eloy Detention Center is refusing detainees the investigation of the sexual assault cases of three detainees: Samuel Magallanes-Rodriquez (A#079-789-297), Octavio Aguilar (A#079-654-111), and Leonardo Rodriquez Gonzalez (A#208-577-846). When submitted, complainant Octavio was placed in solitary confinement. Octavio is on his 9th day of a hunger strike. When Samuel submitted his complaint, Eloy CCA didn’t allow the Eloy police department to investigate and interview witness inside. Leo was stripped down in front of a crowd, humiliated, and fondled. The common practice at the Eloy Detention Center following a complaint of sexual abuse is to place the complainant in administrative segregation (effectively, solitary confinement). We wish to emphasize the obvious chilling effect of this practice, as detainees are likely to refuse to report abuse for fear that it will result in segregation. Whatever the motive behind such segregation, its punitive, retaliatory effect is obvious. Immigration detainees are entitled to protections under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) and ICE’s own guidelines outlined in the 2011 Operation Manual of ICE Detention Standards. Not only is Eloy refusing victim’s right to investigation, victim’s are being punished for reporting sexual assault through administrative segregation. ICE Phoenix Acting Director Albert Carter and District Attorney John Leonardo, you have the power to assure that Eloy Detention Center is in compliance with PREA guidelines and ICE’s own guidelines, as set forth through the Operations Manual. We demand an end to administrative segregation as a retaliatory tactic when a victim makes a complaint. We demand the staff involved with Octavio, Samuel, and Leo’s cases be removed from contact with detainees. We demand Eloy CCA immediately allow Eloy PD to fully investigate Samuel’s case. Please sign to support Octavio, Samuel, and Leo!

One of GLAHR's core members is under attack. Juan Martinez-Garcia has been a community leader with the Glahriadores in Atlanta for years. For the past four years, Juan has dealt with the bureaucracy of immigration agencies after Cobb County Police stopped him for allegedly running a red light, arrested him for driving without a license, and then transferred him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be deported in 2012. Since then, he's been trying to prove his humanity to authorities and asking for them to use discretion and close his case. His case is a perfect example of how programs like Secure Communities, PEP, and 287(g) have had a devastating effect and how the policies of the current administration are still failing. Juan has been in the US for 18 years and has no other interaction with law enforcement. Because he is married but doesn't have children, the government says his family and his place in our community doesn't count. We are asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Atlanta Field Office to close Juan Martinez Garcia's case. He has a right to stay in this country, he may not have children, but he has support, community that is here for him. Juan has a check-in with ICE on Thursday September 8, 2016.

When President Obama issued his executive order for immigration reform on November 20, 2014, Paty was one of the millions who was eligible for relief through the DAPA program. She is the mother of five US children and six US grandchildren, with a seventh on the way. While DAPA was held up in the courts, the President's Priorities Enforcement Program (PEP) began ripping apart thousands of lives by zeroing in on deporting migrants with misdemeanors such as DUIs. Paty is a integral figure in the Phoenix community and a pillar of her family. She's been building a life in the US since 1980, when she came here as a teenager. Now Paty's daughter desperately needs her mother by her side as she prepares to give birth to her child any day. Paty's grandchildren need the love and care of their abuela. Despite this being her first and only arrest, Paty could be deported for a DUI she received after being pulled over by the Phoenix Police Department for a broken tail light. Paty is bravely and responsibly completing requirements for her DUI by turning herself into Arpaio's jail. Help us tell ICE she belongs in her community, not in a detention center. Tearing Paty away from her kids and grandkids doesn't only harm Paty, it destabilizes her entire family. Watch the video of Paty preparing to go to Tent City here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xi9w0FDdNE Please sign below to stop Paty from being separated from her family and community!

La actual política de detener a madres y niñ@s en centros de detención es una violación de las leyes estadounidenses e internacionales de derechos humanos, lastima a l@s niñ@s, y castiga a familias que buscan salvar sus vidas. Jenny Munguia es una de las miles de madres que desafiaron el peligroso viaje hacia el norte en busca de seguridad para ella y su hijo. Pero en lugar de seguridad, se han encontrado con una trauma aún mayor. Jenny y su hijo se encuentran detenid@s durante meses en el centro de detención Dilley, en Texas. "Mi hijo no tiene apetito y no ha comido durante cinco días. El psicólogo me dijo que mi hijo está deprimido porque siente la incertidumbre de estar detenido y no poder salir. Una madre busca procurar todo lo que su hijo necesita para estar feliz y crecer, pero aquí siento que no puedo hacer nada para ayudar a mi hijo." No podemos permitir que mas madres y niñ@s como Jenny y su hijo sufran por esta política inhumana e ilegal. Es hora de acabar con la detención de familias ahora mismo.

This petition is really important for our family, simply because we are fighting for one of ours freedom. My cousin is a good man with the best intentions. His sister started to see a psychiatrist for the same reason that she is overwhelmed with feelings that she will no longer see her brother, and my aunt..... My aunt is the sweetest person to meet. And she sure doesn't deserve this. She has started to get sick and loose weight, for the same reason that her family isn't together anymore. They would always come to visit us. But it all stop because there hearts are filled with holes, holes of not knowing what will happen to her son if they end up deporting him. Because he doesn't have NO ONE to look after him, his 21 but still has the heart of a kid. He loves his mom more than anything and refuses to leave voluntary because he as well as me believe that there's a lot more here for him. Chances, opportunities, and a path to follow. As if he were to get deported all he would have waiting for him in Mexico would be a pavement spot in the street, I believe that sending my cousin back to Mexico would be SUICIDE for him. That is why i believe that he deserves this second chance. And that you shouldn't deny this dream of his of becoming someone in this beautiful country, rather than a nobody in his own country. Thank You much, God bless from The Beltran Family

The United States' policy of locking up mothers and children in detention centers violates US and international human rights law, needlessly puts children in harm’s way, and punishes families fleeing for their lives. Jenny Munguia is one of thousands of mothers who braved the dangerous journey north in search of safety for herself and her son. But instead of safety, Jenny and her son have only found more trauma. Jenny and her son were detained in the Dilley, Texas detention center, where they worked with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project. According to Jenny: “My son has no appetite and has not been eating for five days. The psychologist told me that my son is depressed because he feels the uncertainty of being detained and not being able to leave. A mother wants to see that her child has everything necessary to be happy and grow, but here I feel like I can’t do anything to help my son." We cannot let more mothers and children like Jenny and her son suffer because of this inhumane and illegal policy. Its time to #EndFamilyDetention now.