Chicago activists, local religious leaders, and Rep. Luis
Gutierrez have been sitting in at the Chicago ICE offices today to protest the
mass deportation policy. They reportedly expect to be arrested after 5 pm.
We’re posting a statement below from Familia Latina Unida/Sin Fronteras along
with links to news articles.—TPOI editor
The campaign of civil disobedience begins today.
Statement of Familia Latina Unida/Sin Fronteras, March
13, 2017
Rev Emma Lozano, Co-chair of Familia Latina Unida and pastor
of the first sanctuary church in the nations today joins with Congressman Luis
Gutierrez and a group of committed religious leaders, elected officials and
community leaders to begin a new phase in the struggle against mass
deportations and separation of families. We cannot simply sit by, march and
hold press conferences while this administration tears apart our families and
our communities.
As in the days of the civil rights movement we find
ourselves up against a white nationalist power structure which seeks to drive
Latinos from the country or into submission. This is an administration which
has no moral compass to guide them. The fate of families, of U.S. citizen
children deprived of a mother or father, is not regretted, it is celebrated by
this administration.
Years of negotiation with the Republican Congress have
brought us often to the brink of a solution – but each time they pulled back.
This is not a matter of law it is a matter of humanity – and the lack of it. We
believe that we speak for the majority of people in this country who oppose
these deportations and separation of families. Only the peculiar states rights
structure of elections has put us in the hands of those without compassion or a
sense of justice. When the actions of government no longer reflect the will of
the people then people of conscience must act.
We have no alternative now but to begin mass campaigns of
civil disobedience across this country. Those of good conscience will join the
U.S. citizen family members and neighbors of the undocumented. We will explore
a full range of tactics to bring the deportations to a halt.
We are not criminals. We are not terrorists. We are workers
and we are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. If we have to fill up the
jails of this country to remind this nation of its basic humanity – then that
is what we will do.
The campaign of civil disobedience begins today.
Rep. Gutierrez Handcuffed After Refusing to Leave Meeting
with ICE
By Shelby Bremer, NBC Chicago
 |
| Photo: Rep. Gutierrez's office |
March 13, 2017
Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez was briefly handcuffed after
refusing to leave a meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials in Chicago, saying he planned to risk arrest by staying at the
agency’s office in The Loop until demands are met.
The Democratic congressman led a sit-in following a meeting
that began around 10 a.m. Monday with a delegation of activists that included
about 22 advocates, attorneys, community leaders and other local elected
officials, according to Gutierrez's spokesman Douglas Rivlin.[...]
Read the full article:
Congressman Gutierrez, activists stage sit-in at Chicago ICE
office
By Tony Briscoe, Chicago Tribune
March 13, 2017
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez and a delegation of activists and
lawyers have staged a sit-in at the regional offices of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement after their demands were not met during an hourlong meeting Monday
with agency officials.
Gutierrez met with ICE's acting regional director Monday
morning to discuss immigrants living illegally in the Chicago area and around
the nation. The meeting was Gutierrez's first with ICE officials under the
Trump administration, and he hoped to get details about the agency's
enforcement policy as well as to advocate against deportation orders for
several detained immigrants.[...]
Read the full article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/immigration/ct-gutierrez-immigration-ice-met-20170313-story.html
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