Friday, July 22, 2016

An Atlanta Campaign Demands Immigration Reform, End to Policies of Deportation and Detention

A coalition of local community organizations have launched an ICE Free Zones campaign.

By Paul McLennan, Azadeh Shahshahani, and Adelina Nicholls, AlterNet
June 16, 2016

On June 15, coordinated actions were held across the world including in Atlanta, seeking justice for Berta Caceres, an indigenous human rights and environmental justice activist who was assassinated in Honduras on March 3. Several of those charged with her murder have ties to the Honduran military, including at least one high-ranking officer who reportedly was trained by U.S. Rangers.

At the Atlanta action, we also drew attention to the recent ICE raids that have targeted women and children fleeing horrific persecution, rape, murder, and torture in Central American countries such as Honduras, who were seeking a safe haven in this country. Caceres' assassination was only the latest example of this systematic, patriarchal violence, in part facilitated by U.S. government policies and decades of intervention in the region.

The actions of the Obama administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement combined with the racist rhetoric coming from Republican Party candidates are responsible for generating fear and anxiety in our immigrant and refugee communities. This is only gearing up in the wake of the horrific Orlando attack with attempts to scapegoat Muslim communities.[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/campaign-demands-end-government-policies-raids-detention-and-deportation

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