Acting for Immigration Justice  Luchadora por la justicia
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Resources and Articles on Immigration

 MY NEW BOOK, CHOICES: DEATH, LIVE AND MIGRATION IS NOW AVAILABLE -amazon.com/author/patricia.rumer

THE BOOK IS A COLLECTION OF STORIES OF MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE PEOPLE IN GUATEMALA  - THEIR CULTURE AND HISTORICAL EVENTS AND MY WORK ALONG THE ARIZONA/MEXICO BORDER THESE PAST FEW YEARS.  
In the Shadow of the Wall: Family Separation, Immigration Enforcement and Security
A 2013 migrant border crossing study from The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona.


(NEW) EXCELLENT RADIO BROADCAST ON HISTORIC REASONS WHY CENTRAL AMERICANS ARE COMING NORTH.  https://the1a.org/shows/2019-01-10/why-are-migrants-from-central-america-coming-to-the-u-s

How the Fight against Corruption and Impunity Can be Won
Watch a TEDx talk on root causes of migration from Guatemala and a positive step towards ending corruption in Guatemala by Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) staff member Adriana Beltrán (Apr. 12, 2016).
​

This is What the US-Mexico Border Wall Actually Looks Like
Another great resource on the wall and the border from National Geographic.
Immigration Raids Rapid Response: For Faith Allies
Inspired by Sanctuary in the Streets from New Sanctuary Movement Philadelphia

Be prepared, organized and present when immigration raids happen in our communities. Click on link to find action ideas for individuals, organizations and faith communities.

We do Not Need Trump's Wall
​An excellent op-ed from Arizona Daily Star on the Trump wall proposal (Jan. 29, 2017).

​in_harms_way.pdf​ IS THE MIGRANT BORDER CROSSING STUDY BY DR. DANIEL MARTINEZ - MENTIONED IN LATEST BLOG OF JANUARY 23, 2017.

Organizations

Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, Portland, Oregon
(IMIrJ), formerly the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement (ONSM), is an interfaith coalition of individuals, faith leaders and congregations, called by our faith and conscience to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters residing in the United States.

Pedro Sosa's Facebook page and AFSC Oregon's Facebook page, Salem and Portland, Oregon  
Check out Project Voice, a project of the American Friends Service Committee in Oregon and Washington.  Pedro Sosa provides Know Your Rights training as well as Rapid Response training, both of which are critical for the undocumented community.  Most of Pedro's posts are in Spanish.  

Immigrant Humanitarian Organizations in Tucson, Arizona  

No More Deaths is a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona. We began in 2004 in the form of a coalition of community and faith groups, dedicated to stepping up efforts to stop the deaths of migrants in the desert and to achieving the enactment of a set of Faith-Based Principles for Immigration Reform. We later developed into an autonomous project. Since 2008 we have been an official ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson.  http://forms.nomoredeaths.org/en/

Tucson Samaritans Mission is to save lives in the Southern Arizona desert.  Tucson and Green Valley Samaritan volunteers go out daily to drop off gallons of water, food and medicine.  In addition, they monitor Operation Streamline:
Operation Streamline is an initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice begun in 2005 with the intention of establishing “zero-tolerance” immigration enforcement zones along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Under Operation Streamline, unauthorized migrants face criminal prosecution and potential prison sentences in addition to formal deportation and removal from the United States.  Operation Streamline has drastically increased immigration prosecutions, making ‘Illegal Re-entry’ the most-commonly filed federal charge.
Website: http://www.tucsonsamaritans.org/

Kino Border Initiative.
The Kino Border Initiative (KBI) is a binational organization that works in the area of migration and is located in Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.   The KBI was inaugurated in January of 2009 by six organizations from the United States and Mexico: The California Province of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist, the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, the Diocese of Tucson and the Diocese of Nogales.  The KBI’s vision is to help make humane, just, workable migration between the U.S. and Mexico a reality.  Its mission is to promote US/Mexico border and immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person and a spirit of bi-national solidarity through: www.kinoborderinitiative.org  
  1. Casa Alitas serves migrant women and children who have left their home countries to escape violence and poverty.
Tucson based Shelters:  https://www.ccs-soaz.org/donate/form
Catholic Community Services operates three shelters:  Casa Alitas, Merrilac Lodge and the Monastery.  There are two other shelters operated by United Methodists and Presbyterians.

  • Nogales, Sonora, Mexico shelters:  Donate to Cruzando Fronteras, that supports five different shelters south of the border.  These shelters house immigrants waiting to cross the border and ask for asylum. 
 
https://www.faithstreet.com/church/the-episcopal-diocese-of-arizona-phoenix-az/giving?fund_id=border-ministry-for-asylum-seekers-the-episcopal-diocese-of-arizona
 
OTHER PROGRAMS:
  • Casa Mariposa Visitor Detention Center program. https://donorbox.org/cmvisitation is a weekly visitation program to Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona.  Orientation is available for persons in the Tucson and Phoenix area.
  • Keep Tucson Together:  https://www.facebook.com/KeepTucsonTogether. We work with a volunteer attorney to try and close cases through asylum claims, prosecutorial discretion, and as a last resort, launching public political campaigns to stop deportations.
  • Florence Immigration and Refugee Project. https://firrp.org/The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project is the only organization in Arizona that provides free legal and social services to detained men, women, and children under threat of deportation.

Articles

Story of American Friends Service Committee border action on December 10, 2018 in San Diego, California.  https://news.streetroots.org/2018/12/28/we-are-standing-our-ground-justice-border.  


Who is “He”?/Quien es “El”?
Tribuno Del Pueblo, bi-lingual newspaper, Chicago, Illinois, March-April, 2014. This poem was inspired by the courage of the Ixil women who testified at the 2012 trial of Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the Guatemalan 1980s civil war.

Where is the Justice?  Guatemalan indigenous women leaders organize on human rights, gender violence and protection of their lands. 
Common Lot, a bi-annual women’s magazine, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio.  Spring 2014 (pp.13-16).  This article describes the courage of Guatemalan women working for environmental justice and respect for human rights.  I heard their stories as a participant in the 2013 Guatemalan Human Rights Commission/USA delegation.

El dia de la madre, remembering those behind bars
Street Roots, Portland, Oregon, June 6, 2014.  Every year the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice holds a Mother’s Day Vigil outside the Tacoma, Washington ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Detention Center.  This is the story of the 2014 vigil.