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Thawing ICE: Mindful Walk for Immigrant Justice - June 14, 2018

6/14/2018

from Noon to 1PM today we walked silently around the ICE building. The second Thursday of each month, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Portland and the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice host a silent walk to witness to ICE unjust policies and to practice compassion for all. Today about 200 persons showed up with signs and t-shirts. I will let the photos speak for themselves. I walked saying quietly- Love, Peace and Compassion with each step I took around the ICE building. May it be so for the children separated from their parents! And may the hearts of our government be filled with compassion to change these inhumane practices.

DHS SECURITY GUARD WATCHING THE SILENT VIGIL

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CLAUDIA PATRICIA GUZMAN PRESENTE!

6/1/2018

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Pedro Sosa reading the poem at the vigil for Claudia Patricia.

DISCOURAGED AND DISHEARTENED is how I felt yesterday at the monthly vigil outside the ICE office. WHY?

Answer: To somehow do something to show my outrage over the murder of a 20 year old girl from Guatemala whose only crime was trying to enter the United States. She was brutally murdered by a Border Patrol agent.
A Mexican woman video taped the killing and then later, was harassed by Border Patrol agents for putting it up on Facebook.
Claudia Patricia is a Maya Mam speaker from San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala. My heart broke open when I realized that I knew her village. Many years ago, I lived on the altiplano above this village in San Francisco La Union.

Prayer Card for Claudia Patricia Guzman

A poem was read at the vigil - In Spanish, La Flor Amarilla de los Sepulcros/The Yellow Flower of the Tombs.
One stanza reads: Why do we look for refuge in another place? Why must we become pilgrims?
"Here no one wants peace, one can die of hunger, the men are blind, the laws are deaf (to our pleas), the shadows of crimes extend their wings until they touch the light."
It is a beautiful poem in Spanish and my translation doesn't do it justice, but the sentiments are clear as to why people flee their country to travel north to the United States.
There will be a misa/mass tomorrow at St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church with a Guatemalan indigenous congregation; a vigil outside a mortuary on Sunday in Salem, Oregon.

A prayer card of Claudia Patricia was shared at the vigil - her photo on the front with a prayer to the Virgin of Guadeloupe on the back. This is a tradition in many Latin American countries when someone dies. Look at her and remember her and all the others who have died trying to enter the United States. After you say her name, say PRESENTE! She is still with us.

I am outraged, sad, frustrated - how do we stop the killing? Or the bigger questions - ending poverty in Guatemala and other countries where people leave because there are no jobs or there are too many drugs and violence and...fill in the blanks.

No actions in today's blog - only to remember Claudia Patricia and always let our government know that we are not in agreement with separating families and killing people who are seeking a safe sanctuary. May it be so.

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TWO CARAVANS - One of Central Americans and the other, North Americans - WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?

5/3/2018

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Today on NPR Attorney Jeff Sessions announced that we are facing an "immigration crisis." He continued: "we will not allow people to come illegally" although the Central Americans in the caravan are legally seeking asylum. He used Words like "caravan, stampede, overwhelmed."/C:/Users/Pat/Documents/Blog/in-tijuana-hundreds-of-asylum-seekers-wait-entry-into-the-u-s.html

OVERWHELMED? How can a country with 328 million citizens and residents be overwhelmed by a caravan of 200 people from Central America? It is estimated that there are 11 million undocumented persons in the USA and the numbers entering without documents has actually declined in the past few years, except for primarily women and children fleeing violence in Central America.

This link is to an excellent article by Kathryn Johnson, American Friends Service Committee that explains the root causes as to why people are coming. www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/how-us-should-respond-to-migrant-caravan

TWO CARAVANS - Oregonians demanding ICE Out of NORCOR. A law suit is pending in the state court that argues that NORCOR housing immigrant detainees violates Oregon's sanctuary law. These caravans show the compassion for the detained and the need for radical changes in immigration policies that put profit before people.

I am angry at the inhumane policies of my country and am saddened and disheartened by the racist and xenophobic words about immigrants spoken by Mr. Trump and other politicians. They seek to divide us as a people and to make us fear the other with messages that immigrants are here to take your jobs or your women. Trump uses hate language to dehumanize asylum seekers.

BUT there are Americans who are responding in a different way. In a recent article in the LA Times,

  Heather Cronk, co-director of Showing Up for Racial Justice, which is coordinating volunteer sponsors in San Diego said:

“I think this is 100% about who we want to be as a nation,” she said. “Not only are we providing material support, supporting those who are in need of a place to go … We offer a counter message. We want to make very clear to the folks who are in the caravan and those across the country that Trump’s voice is not the only voice in this country. Where Trump closes doors, we open them.”

Let's form more caravans for peace with justice to change the immoral and inhumane policies that separate families and divide use.

FOR THOSE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, JOIN THE ANNUAL MOTHER'S DAY VIGIL OUTSIDE THE TACOMA, WASHINGTON DETENTION CENTER ON SATURDAY, MAY 12. OR ORGANIZE YOUR OWN CARAVAN TO A DETENTION CENTER NEAR YOU TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRANTS. imirj.org/

A Vigil outside NORCOR sponsored by the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, The Dalles, Oregon.

On April 21 and 28, 2018 the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice in Oregon sponsored two caravans taking people of faith and conscience to vigil outside NORCOR, the public four county jail in the Dalles, Oregon. We joined local Gorge Resistance folks to protest the practice of NORCOR to house ICE detainees relocated from the private detention center in Tacoma, WA.

Like its sister private prison in Tacoma, it is a soul-less place. NORCOR is located in the industrial part of the Dalles, a warehouse of people, not material products. There we prayed, sang, walked with our signs and waved at cars passing by.

Did we accomplish anything in our month long campaign, "#ICEOUTOFNORCOR." IMIRJ delivered 750 signatures on a petition asking the NORCOR board to reinstate family visits to detainees and on April 28 260 people gathered to remember the hunger strike by detainees of a year ago.

www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2018/may/01/rally-marks-norcor-protest-anniversary/

The local newspaper described the action so people know why we were there and what we want.

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PASSOVER SEDER OF FREEDOM AND LIBERATION

3/29/2018

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The Monthly Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice vigil outside the ICE building in Portland Oregon was led by Havurah Shalom, a member organization. About sixty people gathered on a sunny morning to sing, to pray and to ask for freedom for detained immigrants. Rabbi Benjamin Barnett led the singing.

WE SANG: GO DOWN MOSES, LET ME PEOPLE GO; OH LORD, PREPARE ME TO BE A SANCTUARY AND LO YIS GOY EL GOY CHEREV/AND EVERYONE SHALL LIVE IN PEACE AND UNAFRAID. AT THE END OF THE 10 PLAGUES RECALLING SUFFERING AND AFFLICTION, DAYENU, BASTA, HALAS, ENOUGH!

RABBI BENJAMIN LEADING US SINGING AS WE MARCHED AROUND THE PASSOVER TABLE.

THE PASSOVER ELEMENTS THAT WE SHARED

At the end of the seder, we said: "Next year in a just world." And through our actions from this Passover to the next, let us make this dream a reality.

VIACRUCISMIGRANTE 2018- JOURNEY FROM CENTRAL AMERICA TO THE U.S. BORDER

TO MIGRATE IS NOT A CRIME. BANNER AT THE VIACRUCIS.

In the Christian tradition, Holy Week between Palm Sunday and Easter is a time of the Way of the Cross. This year 1200 pilgrims from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are walking from their countries to the U.S.-Mexico border ending in Mexicali. Here is a story of their journey told be one of the participants.

Day 3 of the #ViacrucisMigrante2018 - News coverage in the Diario del Sur:
Blanca, 20 years old, traveling on foot from El Salvador with her 2-year-old daughter: "If Trump were here, he'd forget about the wall. He has never been poor, and that is why he acts this way towards the rest of the world; he would need to walk here with us in order to understand our reality."
We are Pueblo Sin Fronteras, 1200 families heading north on foot to denounce the repression of the corrupt governments of Central America, and the cruel treatment of migrants by the governments of Mexico and the United States. We began walking this morning at 5am from the southern Mexican town of Mapastepec, preparing to all cross the third immigration checkpoint, without permission, together.

Day 5 of the #ViacrucisMigrante2018, families washing clothing and bathing in the Novillero river in San Pedro Tepanatepec, while others in the caravan prepare rice and beans. A group of 350 men just arrived after walking all night from Arriaga. On the last stretch 2 truckers stopped on the side of the highway and all 350 climbed onto the truck beds to arrive together at dawn.

90 of us arrived last night on a bus after negotiating with the bus company in Arriaga. The border police stopped and boarded us, but we insisted that we are Pueblo Sin Fronteras, 1500 families without passports but with permission from God to pass freely; the police backed off and we made it to San Pedro, where we found the town fair and played foosball before falling asleep exhausted.

We are strong, we are impatient, we are beautiful and fun and we have dignity, and there are a lot of us. Of the 150 people who flee political repression in Honduras each day, more than a thousand are with us, roaring "Fuera Joh!" as we march. We struggle against the corrupt governments of Mexico, Centroamerica, and the USA, an end to violence and repression in our countries, and respect and freedom of movement for all migrants. www.facebook.com/PuebloSF/

WHAT IS YOUR COMMITMENT OR NEXT STEP THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO MAKE TO ASSIST IMMIGRANTS AND TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF THE UNJUST IMMIGRATION SYSTEM? i WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

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NO MORE BAIL BONDS FOR IMMIGRANTS IN DETENTION

3/18/2018

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Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez is greeted by friends and family after exiting the Adelanto Detention Center in California on August 30, 2017. He spent six months in detention until an immigration judge ordered that he be allowed to post bond. He is in deportation proceedings that could take years to complete because of court backlogs. Credit: Kyle Grillot/Reuters

The lawsuit, which focuses on asylum seekers and legal permanent residents, led to a 2013 ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that immigrants detained for six months or longer are entitled to a bond hearing. (Source:PRI (030118)

A PERSONAL STORY ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF BONDS FOR DETAINEES:

In February, 2017 a Guatemalan woman friend, Josefina or "Josie" was released from an Arizona detention center. I met Josie in November, 2015 as a volunteer CIVIC visitor. She had traveled north from a small town in Northeast Guatemala to find work to finance her father's dialysis treatment. She had family in the USA and hoped to live with them. She was kidnapped en route by a Mexican drug cartel and held for ransom. A cousin in Florida paid $8000 for her release.
As she told me her story, I realized that she should have an attorney as she might qualify for a T visa given to victims of human trafficking. A lawyer from a nonprofit law firm took her case. Later, I wrote a letter of support for her first bond hearing in 2016. Immigration bonds are like bail bonds - the applicant must demonstrate that they are not a flight risk and will keep their immigration court appointments.
Her bond was set at $20,000 for crossing the U.S-Mexico border without legal permission to enter. Her aunt and family raised $5000 and the attorneys contributed $15,000 and after 15 months in the private corporate detention center, she was released. That February night we had a celebratory feast of her favorite Guatemalan food: black beans, rice and tamales.
There are between 380,000 and 442,000 persons in detention centers, private and public annually. The per day cost per detainee is $90.43 which adds up to $2-5 Million per year of our tax dollars spent to keep legal permanent residents with families, asylum-seekers and victims of human trafficking in detention waiting either for bond hearing or a lawyer to assist with their case.
The importance of the Supreme Court decision is that detainees can no longer have a bond hearing and can be held indefinitely in detention until deported. Due to the fact that the immigration courts are overwhelmed with the numbers, ACLU lawyers estimate that a detainee could spend two to four years between detention and deportation. For more information on the Court ruling, www.pri.org/stories/2018-03-01/why-recent-supreme-court-decision-bonds-red-flag-immigrants-detention.

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS DECISION FOR DETAINEES AND OUR SYSTEM OF LAW:

How can we as U.S. citizens agree to a decision that deprives people of due process, a legal concept, at the core of our country's laws The U.S. Supreme Court decision is draconian and means many lives will be indefinitely put on hold. Meanwhile, the private corporations, GEO and CCA, earn millions due to the Congressional mandated quota, "34,000 detention beds daily" that must be filled and/or paid for by the government. In 2014 GEO earned $144 million and CCA, $195 million. These two private corporate detention center operators house 62% of all detainees.

WHAT CAN YOU OR I DO?

Become a CIVIC visitor to a local detention center: www.endisolation.org/ This website will connect you to over 250 detention centers in the USA. In Oregon there is an active campaign to close the NORCO facility in the Dalles that contracts with ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to house the overflow from the GEO center in Tacoma, WA.
Contact, call or write your Member of Congress to ask them to sponsor legislation to restore the legal right to a bond hearing in detention centers. This will probably be an uphill battle given the current state of partisanship but it is important that we as U.S. citizens who value our legal rights protest at the removal of due process for hundreds of thousands of persons, many of whom have not committed major crimes but have been caught up in a broken immigration system.

FINALLY, SHARE YOUR STORIES WITH ME OF PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY TIME IN DETENTION CENTER. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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Thawing ICE: Mindful Walk for Immigrant Justice - June 14, 2018

CLAUDIA PATRICIA GUZMAN PRESENTE!

TWO CARAVANS - One of Central Americans and the other, North Americans - WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?

PASSOVER SEDER OF FREEDOM AND LIBERATION

VIACRUCISMIGRANTE 2018- JOURNEY FROM CENTRAL AMERICA TO THE U.S. BORDER

NO MORE BAIL BONDS FOR IMMIGRANTS IN DETENTION

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