No More Deaths Announcements

Another hot summer in Arizona

2012-05-13T02:32:09Z

Another hot summer in Arizona

The temperature is reaching 100 degrees in the Sonoran Desert. In this update:

Summer 2012 volunteer program
Take action: Tell ICE to close these families’ deportation cases!

THANK YOU for responding to our “Bring Justice Home” e-action appeal last month. At last count, 1,490 letters had been sent to Janet Napolitano asking her to give human rights advocates access to Border Patrol detention centers, and 33,232 people had signed the petition demanding justice for the families of border residents murdered by Border Patrol agents. It’s not too late to participate!

Summer 2012 volunteer program

We are very excited to offer volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups interested in providing direct aid on the US–Mexico border. The summer program will run from June 8 to September 28. The deadline for applying for the first session is May 18. Placement projects include desert aid and migrant support at the Agua Prieta Migrant Resource Center. If you are interested in volunteering with us, please visit our updated summer volunteer page. All volunteers must review all of the volunteer expectations and submit an application in order to participate in summer programming.

Tell ICE to close these families’ deportation cases!

Why did a mom picking up her kids from school get put in removal proceedings? Despite the promise the Obama administration made in June 2011 to protect families and communities from being torn apart as a routine part of ICE practices, it is clear there is a disconnect between what is happening in our communities and what is being talked about in Washington.

On Thursday, May 10, ten southern Arizonans (“the Tucson 10”) urged Pat Vroom, ICE’s Chief Counsel for Arizona, once again to issue administrative closure for their immigration cases and to fulfill Obama’s promise.

Esperanza, Elizabeth, Sandra, Sio, Eleazar, Cipriano, Eloy, Luis, Liliana, and Miguel are perfect candidates to have their immigration cases closed under the guidelines issued in June 2011 by the Obama administration. These guidelines intended to shift immigration enforcement away from “low-priority” cases. Yet despite the fact that each presented their case for consideration and subsequent closure ICE’s Chief Counsel for Arizona has denied their requests.

TAKE ACTION

1. Share this video depicting the story of Sandra Moreno and her family.

(If the video above doesn’t load, use this link.)

2. Call ICE and leave a message for Director John Morton.

202-732-3100 or 202-732-3000

Tell ICE:

I’m calling to request that Director John Morton keep Sandra Moreno and the Tucson 10 (names and case numbers below) with their families and in the United States. Each of these individuals is a perfect candidate to have their immigration case closed under the guidelines issued in June 2011 by the Obama administration. Please grant administrative closure of their immigration removal cases now. Thank you.

Esperanza Carreon-Moran, A201-148-691
Elizabeth Gutierrez-Carreon, A201-148-688
Sandra Moreno-Yepiz, A087-917-261
Sio Togawa-Moreno, A087-917-259
Eleazar Togawa-Moreno, A087-917-260
Cipriano Neris-Vergara, A087-530-415
Eloy Mata-Martinez, A087-758-834
Luis Felipe Lopez-Castaneda, A088-769-686
Liliana Estapa-Lozano, A200-704-307
and Miguel Licona-Fernandez, A087-543-526

ICE’s actions are harming our communities and tearing families apart—all of this is happening on Obama’s watch, and it needs to end.

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

Bring justice home! Hold the Border Patrol accountable.

2012-04-25T17:51:02Z

Bring justice home! Hold the Border Patrol accountable.

THANK YOU! After sending out a fundraising appeal earlier this month, we received $2,077 in the first 72 hours in online contributions alone. Your support keeps us going—please keep it coming!

No More Deaths volunteers and supporters:

(See below to TAKE ACTION!)

A year ago this March, Carlos Reynaldo Lamadrid Guerrero, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by the U.S. Border Patrol near Douglas, Arizona. His family has still received no answers for his senseless death. Sadly, stories like Carlos’s are all too common. No More Deaths and partners document human rights violations by Border Patrol every day, like the ones captured in our 2011 report, Culture of Cruelty: Abuse and Impunity in Border Patrol Short-Term Custody. (Download the full report or the executive summary.)

Thankfully, the movement for Border Patrol accountability continues to grow. Thousands of you have signed petitions to the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security urging an end to the ongoing abuse of migrants in Border Patrol. Together we are making progress.

RECENT UPDATES AND SUCCESSES

—Border Patrol abuse has recently received an unprecedented amount of mainstream media attention, spurring widespread shock and condemnation.

CNN’s The Situation Room ran an investigation on dangerous deportation practices leading to kidnappings and worse, filmed in Nogales, Mexico with the participation of No More Deaths. Watch the video online.
Oprah Magazine’s April issue featured a story called “Hiding in Plain Sight: Inside the Life of an Undocumented Immigrant.” The findings of No More Deaths’s Culture of Cruelty are included in this thoughtful profile of an undocumented mother living in Tucson, Arizona. Read the article.
PBS’s April 20 episode of Need to Know investigated the excessive use of force by U.S. Border Patrol and the eight murders at their hands in the past two years. Watch an online video of the half-hour show.

No More Deaths volunteers Danielle Alvarado and Victoria Kline testifying before the IACHR.

—Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) has raised concerns about Border Patrol’s lack of oversight and accountability to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Border Patrol Chief Michael Fischer in congressional hearings, referencing A Culture of Cruelty.

—In March, No More Deaths testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a respected international human rights body. We presented the thousands of abuses documented in our report, and argued for the need for independent oversight over Border Patrol and an investigation by the IACHR. For further details, read No More Deaths volunteer Geoffrey Boyce’s piece on “The Other Hearing in Washington” and view the full video of No More Deaths’s testimony before the Commission.

—United through the Southern Border Communities Coalition, No More Deaths and 59 other organizations from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas are launching the “Bring Justice Home” campaign to put an end to Border Patrol brutality. Find out how to participate at soboco.org.

—Amnesty International also just released a high-profile report, In Hostile Terrain, about human rights violations in immigration enforcement in the southwest. No More Deaths and many other Tucson-based groups were involved in their research. Please check it out.

TAKE ACTION

No More Deaths has concluded that independent oversight of Border Patrol facilities is the only real way to ensure that human rights are being respected. Please contact Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano today and tell her how important it is to give human rights advocates access to Border Patrol facilities.

Click here to join in calling on Secretary Napolitano to grant human rights observers access to short-term detention facilities.

Together, we can create the public and political will necessary to protect the basic human rights and dignity of all migrants, beginning with advocates’ access to Border Patrol detention centers.

Additionally, No More Deaths’s work on Border Patrol abuse documentation is run entirely by volunteers and supported by individual donations. If you believe this work matters, please consider supporting it financially.

No More Deaths and our allies along the border will not stop as long as we continue to hear the painful stories of treatment by Border Patrol from people who have been deported. Together, we must work to ensure that none of these abuses get swept under the rug. Families like Carlos’s are depending on us.

Thanks for everything you do to help bring justice home.

Danielle Alvarado and Hannah Hafter,
No More Deaths volunteers
Co-authors of A Culture of Cruelty

Community altar for Carlos Lamadrid, the 18-year-old young man who was shot and killed by Border Patrol a year ago.

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

Can you help us now?

2012-04-06T10:16:55Z

Can you help us now?

Dear Friends of No More Deaths,

This winter and spring, the need for humanitarian aid to migrants in the desert and Nogales has been huge. We are depleting our resources fast. Insurance is now due on our vehicles, repairs and maintenance are endless, and rising gas prices are really hitting us hard.

We're preparing our spring fundraising newsletter for mailing in early May, but our hope is that those of you reading this "e-appeal" could be "early-bird" contributors to our efforts now. We are actively exploring other fundraising sources, but the simple truth is 80 percent of money for our programs helping migrants comes from individuals like you. Perhaps some of you know of funding sources we should contact. If so, write us at action@nomoredeaths.org and address it to the attention of the fundraising working group (FRWG).

There are two ways to make contributions:

1. Make a check payable to UUCT–No More Deaths and send it to:

No More Deaths
UUCT
P.O. Box 40782
Tucson, AZ 85717

2. Click the button that you see on the right (or go to http://nomoredeaths.org/Donations) and follow the instructions for making a secure online donation.

Thank you for reading this and for your quick response.

In solidarity,

No More Deaths Volunteers

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

Volunteering with No More Deaths in Nogales

2012-02-06T23:21:53Z

Volunteering with No More Deaths in Nogales

No More Deaths seeks to maintain a community of long-term volunteers sharing its volunteer apartment in Nogales, Arizona, and continuing its social-justice work in Nogales, Sonora, in collaboration with local volunteers from the communities of Ambos Nogales and Tucson. Ideally, those sharing the apartment will be diverse in age range, background, and skills and interests (advocacy, medical, logistical, community outreach).

As with other No More Deaths projects, our work in Mexico is about responding to the human consequences of militarized border enforcement and the criminalization of the migrant and immigrant populations. We serve people in transit: mostly recently repatriated Mexicans, but also Central Americans passing through the Mexican frontera on their way north. Our work is guided by the No More Deaths mission statement and the idea of civil initiative.

Our work in Nogales, Sonora, involves assisting people with:

• Phone communication with family members
• Recovery of property from Customs and Border Protection, police, and jails
• Documentation of human rights abuses by CBP, ICE, and police
• Medical issues
• Accessing their financial resources
• Reconnecting with family members after separation in detention/deportation

The purpose of the long-term-volunteer program is to facilitate full-time involvement in this work, ensure its continuity, and enable us to develop a stronger community basis. Participation will normally be a six-month commitment. We are currently looking for two to three volunteers for April 1–September 15.

You can view/download the application form in PDF or Microsoft Word format. Please email your application and resume to nmd.nogales@gmail.com by February 20. We will talk to you by phone and give you a response by March 1.

Here are some details:

• Individuals with previous experience volunteering in Nogales with No More Deaths are strongly encouraged to apply.

• You should speak Spanish at a functional level of fluency.

• Your individual role, which we will discuss with you, will need to fit into our overall scope of work (PDF). Special roles we would like to fill include medical assistance (certification is required by our clinic partner) and property-recovery assistance.

• You may be asked to take on some simple “coordination” responsibilities, such as maintaining schedules and writing reports.

• As a No More Deaths volunteer, you will need to act in a manner consistent with No More Deaths values, including respect for persons, nonviolence, and adherence to the law.

• Your time in Nogales will begin with a thorough training facilitated by multiple members of our community.

• You will be paired with a member of the NMD Nogales group as your “work advisor.” You may also be paired with a member of the community of Ambos Nogales as your “context advisor.”

• We provide housing in a shared living space: a rented two-bedroom apartment. Volunteers provide their own food (food stamps may be an option for some). We cover work-related expenses, including transportation expenses between and in Nogales and Tucson.

• We are not grant-funded: all our activities are funded through individual donations. We encourage volunteers to generate a financial contribution to No More Deaths by fundraising in their own communities (some who can afford it opt to donate out of pocket). We can provide ideas, materials, and other support for fundraising. We propose a fundraising goal of $200 per month of your service. However, please apply regardless of this proposed goal: we can sometimes support volunteers’ service with other funding.

If you have questions, please contact us at nmd.nogales@gmail.com. We look forward to talking to you about your six months of service in Nogales.

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

A holiday message from No More Deaths

2011-12-22T08:51:49Z

A holiday message from No More Deaths

In this update:

The new first aid tent at NMD’s Byrd Camp, and your support
A call for vehicle donations
Volunteer for Spring Break 2012!

The new first aid tent at NMD’s Byrd Camp, and your support

Dear friends of No More Deaths,

Picture yourself as part of the team of NMD volunteers who spent November 26 constructing the DRASH first aid tent at Byrd Camp. Like barn-raising parties of old, volunteers worked together to put up a structure that will better serve the medical needs of migrants. Thanks to Sarah Roberts and Gene Lefebvre who donated their Freedom from Fear award prize to this project.

And thanks to all of you who have responded so generously to our ongoing appeals for funds so we can keep doing this humanitarian aid work.

As 2011 comes to an end, we are sending out this special reminder to those of you who are planning to make your donation before December 31. We are a nonprofit organization and your donation is tax-deductible. There are two ways to make contributions:

Make your check payable to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson (UUCT) and put No More Deaths on the memo line and send to No More Deaths, UUCT, P.O. Box 40782, Tucson, AZ 85717.
Go online to our website (www.nomoredeaths.org) and select the DONATE tab. Clear directions are provided for making a secure online donation or contributing in other ways.

Speaking of other ways to contribute, we are including below a letter from our Vehicles Working Group that invites you or someone you know to consider donating a vehicle to No More Deaths.

Thank you and Peace,

The No More Deaths Community

A call for vehicle donations

DODGE, JEEP, PATHFINDER or 4-RUNNER WANTED - Tucson non-profit seeks good-running 4X4 for desert work. Prefer DODGE 1500 mid-90’s to mid-2000’s, auto trans, solid front axle, - or heavy-duty JEEP, PATHFINDER or 4-RUNNER, but will consider any strong off-road 4X4 truck or SUV. Phone Rev. Gene Lefebvre at cell (520) 609-9548 or home (520) 743-0033.

Dear friends of No More Deaths,

All that’s left of the “Roja” is the engine and drive train—the frame, bed, and cab have disintegrated from all those hard years on the rough roads leading to the trails north of the border. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to acquire another, almost identical, and good-running Dodge and have been using the remains of the Roja for spare parts.

BUT, the toils of desert work this past spring and summer have left several of our other vehicles beyond realistic repair. This year we have again almost doubled the territory we are serving in the desert with lifesaving water, food, blankets and medical care, now many hundreds of square miles at least every week—and many of the busiest trails several times a week.

So, we are again asking you to help us find and/or finance replacements for these worn-out vehicles. If any of you have a line on any vehicle that can be donated to No More Deaths, please let us know. The Roja was donated in 2004 by a Mississippi rice farmer whose daughter was one of the founders of the Byrd Camp. Go to www.nomoredeaths.org and select the DONATE tab at the top of the page, then scroll down to Donate a Vehicle. Please share this with others.

We are also seeking money donations to our vehicle fund to cover these replacements and other automotive repair expenses, which were over $15,000 last year. Throughout the year we are venturing further and further into the roughest terrain to provide humanitarian services and precious water to those injured, sick, lost or simply worn-out. We are currently running five vehicles, but need to replace at least two of them before our Spring Break and summer programs. To contribute to the vehicle fund, you can send in a monetary donation as described above, and simply indicate on the check or the online-donation page that this donation is “for” or “on behalf of” the vehicle fund.

As our activities and efforts expand, we are counting on you all to keep us out in the desert and at the aid stations south of the border. Thank you in advance for responding to this appeal! We hope to see you soon in the desert and in the donation pool.

Con esperanza y paz,

The NMD Vehicles Working Group
Victor, Gene, Jim M., and Steve

Volunteer for Spring Break 2012!

No More Deaths invites volunteers to the borderlands to work against death and suffering on our border and in our cities. We welcome both groups and individuals to join us in responding to the human tragedy occurring in the Southern Arizona desert. During Alternative Spring Break, volunteers are welcome to join us for one or more weeks of work and education.

Week 1: March 3–10
Week 2: March 10–17
Week 3: March 17–24

Alternative Spring Break programming begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday and ends the following Friday at 10 p.m.

To join us for Spring Break, please see the program details and submit a request. Submitting a request is the first step in reserving space with us for your trip. We hope to see you in March!

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

President Obama: You can stop this.

2011-11-18T09:08:12Z

President Obama: You can stop this.

Knee injury sustained from a fall while being chased by Border Patrol, subsequently denied medical care. This man was deported having only received newspapers to bandage what agents called “just a scratch” to mock him, laughing.

At the end of September No More Deaths released Culture of Cruelty, a report that painstakingly details abuses of migrants by the U.S. Border Patrol. After interviewing 13,000 people and documenting 30,000 incidents of abuse, we hoped that people of conscience would take a stand. Thousands of you signed a petition to President Obama, urging him to intervene against systemic abuse perpetrated by the nation’s largest federal enforcement agency. You also wrote letters to the editor to your local papers and made phone calls to Border Patrol.

As a result of your advocacy, No More Deaths got the chance to speak directly with the Administration yesterday. Our delegation met with White House advisors to show them the extent of the abuse, and the Border Patrol leadership’s alarming inability to control their agents. We shared our stories, and we gave the White House a simple message: You can end this now.

And we’re not stopping there. Today we are on Capitol Hill, educating Congress about the disturbing daily reality along the border. We will be calling for independent oversight of the Department of Homeland Security and an end to the increases in border and immigration enforcement that tear our families apart. Before we return to Arizona we’ll meet with international human rights organizations, national immigrant and border advocates, and key partners in the fight for justice and dignity for all.

In just a few hours we will meet with Customs and Border Protection. They’re hoping this will all go away. You helped ensure that the human rights abuses outlined in our report won’t be forgotten.

As exciting as all this is, the hard truth is that nothing has changed—yet. Now that we have the attention of the White House and Border Patrol, it’s crucial for you to weigh in again and let the Administration know that meetings aren’t enough—it’s time for direct, decisive action.

Please call the White House today and help us deliver three key messages:

Thank you for meeting with No More Deaths and immigrant rights groups and sending a message that you are concerned about Border Patrol abuse.
Please urge the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the widespread abuse being perpetrated by Border Patrol.
The Department of Homeland Security cannot monitor itself. Please establish an independent oversight mechanism outside of DHS to hold Border Patrol agents accountable.

Call the White House comment line today:

Voice: 202-456-1111

TTY/TTD: 202-456-6213

Border Patrol abuses reach far beyond Arizona and affect us all. When we allow anyone to be mistreated, we send the message that discrimination and cruelty are acceptable. We know that they are a key part of the border-militarization strategy that has ripped families apart for too long, and we’ll continue to work to end it completely. Thank you for being a part of this movement for justice.

Until the culture of cruelty ends,

No More Deaths

Visit cultureofcruelty.org to order the report, support our work, and sign the petition!

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

A fundraising appeal from No More Deaths

2011-11-09T14:39:22Z

A fundraising appeal from No More Deaths

Dear No More Deaths supporters,

Some of you immediately sent us donations in response to our October newsletter when it reached you by mail. We thank you for that. Many of you are planning to donate but haven't yet. And some of you didn't receive the newsletter because you aren't on our mailing list. If you'd like to read it, it's available online right here.

We appeal to you to send in your donations soon, if you can. OUR NEED IS URGENT. As is common at this time of year, our ongoing expenses plus a $6,000 vehicle insurance bill due in November deplete our funds significantly. We do everything we can to be good stewards of our resources. Many of you know firsthand how challenging and costly it is to keep our vehicles running safely over the rough desert terrain as we attempt to provide medical aid when needed and to put water and food in remote border areas where migrants are most at risk.

Several of us encountered a young man in the desert on Friday who looked worn and weary after traveling through Mexico and across the border for 15 days. He was left behind by his group and was lost. Your donations allowed us to be there to help him, as they have helped us help others in similar circumstances. The vehicle, the food and water, the medical aid are all there because of your gifts. We say again and again how we can't do this work without you. After last Friday's experience, we're more aware than ever of that truth.

There are two ways to make contributions:

1. Make a check payable to Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson (our fiscal sponsor). Put No More Deaths on the memo line and send it to:

No More Deaths
UUCT
P.O. Box 40782
Tucson, AZ 85717

2. Go to http://nomoredeaths.org/Donations and follow the instructions for making a secure online donation, or for contributing in other ways.

Thank you for your caring and generosity.

In solidarity,

The No More Deaths community

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

A Culture of Cruelty

2011-10-03T13:12:23Z

A Culture of Cruelty

Imagine this: you have been detained for deportation. You are dehydrated, but are denied adequate water. You are famished, but are given only crackers as the hours stretch into days. Your cell is overcrowded, dirty, and extremely hot. You need your medication, but it has been taken from you. You are separated from your spouse and have no idea where they are. You are forced to sign papers you do not fully understand, and arrive in an unfamiliar city in the dead of night, without your identification, your money, your cell phone, or your other personal belongings.

It happens every day.

Last week, No More Deaths released A Culture of Cruelty, our second report documenting the human rights abuses perpetrated against migrants in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol. Nearly 13,000 people were interviewed over three years. They reported a staggering 30,000 incidents of abuse and mistreatment.

Sign the petition urging President Obama to end the Border Patrol’s culture of cruelty.

The Border Patrol has no legally binding standards regulating its treatment of those it detains. The types of abuse individuals have reported remain alarmingly consistent. A Culture of Cruelty found that:

10% of interviewees reported some form of physical abuse.
Children were more likely to be denied water than adults.
Of 433 incidents in which emergency medical treatment or medication was needed, it was provided only 14% of the time.
Close to half of all interviewees reported overcrowded processing-center conditions, and temperatures maintained at extreme heat or extreme cold.
Of dozens of complaints filed on behalf of detainees with the Department of Homeland Security, zero have resulted in any concrete change in Border Patrol practice.

The Border Patrol’s culture of cruelty is a part of the pattern of racial profiling, family separation, and human rights violations that immigrant communities face all over the country. Whether it’s at the border, in a county with a 287(g) agreement, or in a state that has passed an SB 1070 copycat, it’s clear DHS can’t be trusted to monitor itself.

As a No More Deaths supporter, you already know the devastating impact of border militarization. Border Patrol abuse is one more piece of the deadly “deterrence” strategy that has ripped apart families for the past 20 years.

Help us bring an end to Border Patrol abuse and impunity:

Sign the petition to President Obama, calling on him to put an end to systemic misconduct. If you have an organizational affiliation, endorse the sign-on letter.
Share this video of people describing first-hand experiences of Border Patrol abuse.
Donate to help us get the report’s findings to as many people as possible. The Unitarian Universalist Association has committed to matching donations dollar for dollar, up to $4,000.

The full report, video interviews with people who have experienced abuse, and additional information about the campaign to end Border Patrol abuse can all be found at cultureofcruelty.org.

Thanks for all that you do in support of human rights in the borderlands.

No More Deaths

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

Keep pushing for Sandra's release

2011-09-26T12:44:12Z

Keep pushing for Sandra's release

A few weeks ago we told you about Sandra Lopez, a 20-year-old Tucsonan who needs our help. Despite being a DREAMer, Sandra has been detained at Eloy Detention Center for the past two months and DHS has refused to release her from ICE detention. Will you help Sandra by making a call demanding that she be released immediately?

Also, even if you have already used our e-action page to send a letter to John Morton, please visit it again to send a letter to both John Morton and Katrina Kane.

Please call now:

Call DHS head Janet Napolitano: 202-282-8495
Call ICE head John Morton: 202-732-3000
Call ICE field office director Katrina Kane: 602-766-7028

Sample Script: “Hi, I am calling to ask that Sandra F. Lopez (A# 200-704-493) be released from Eloy Detention Center, Arizona. Sandra is a DREAM Act–eligible student and she has been detained in Eloy Detention Center for too long. Sandra has lived in Tucson, Arizona, since she was a few days old. Please release her from Eloy Detention Center.”

THANK YOU.

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

The Undoing Borders Tour

2011-09-14T11:29:51Z

The Undoing Borders Tour

Note: The much-anticipated update of the 2008 No More Deaths report Crossing the Line, detailing systematic abuse of detainees by the United States Border Patrol, is set for release on September 21. Further information about the new report, entitled A Culture of Cruelty, will be coming soon, along with ways to help publicize it.

The Undoing Borders Tour is coming to a city near you!

Greensboro, North Carolina	9/15
Philadelphia	9/17
New York City	9/19 and 9/21
Swarthmore College	9/20
Montreal	9/23–9/24
Guelph, Ontario	9/26
London, Ontario	9/27
Toronto	9/28
Detroit	9/29
Chicago	9/30
Denver	10/2

Visit http://undoingborders.wordpress.com/tour-schedule/ for a full list of tour stops.

On September 1, friends of No More Deaths embarked on a month-long speaking tour with their newly released document, Undoing Borders: A Queer Manifesto. San Francisco Pride at Work/HAVOQ is a collective of LGBT people organizing for social and economic justice in the San Francisco Bay area. Members of their Migrant Justice work group have been traveling to Arizona to volunteer with No More Deaths for the past five years.

After each trip to the border, the group has hosted report-backs and community conversations about the situation on the border and related work in San Francisco. As one collective member describes it,

“Over and over again we are asked the same question: what does your work have to do with being queer?We’re not working primarily on the immigration issues traditionally understood to be The Gay Ones (like asylum and bi-national marriage), so what do our sexualities and our gender identities have to do with what we think about borders?”

In response, the group spent two years hosting conversation with LGBT im/migrants and allies in the Bay Area about the intersections of queer and im/migrant experience and organizing. The result was Undoing Borders. Now, three members of the collective are touring with the document. They will join groups around the country to explore how freedom of movement and criminalization are linked, with a particular focus on how the private prison industry profits off of racist laws and an increasingly militarized border and interior. They will also speak about the ways in which an LGBT-centered focus offers new strategies for challenging the violence wreaked by borders.

The Undoing Borders Tour began with stops in Phoenix on September 2 and in Tucson on September 4–5. From there, the tour continues eastward, up the east coast, and across the Canada–US border, with stops on both sides. Visit http://undoingborders.wordpress.com/tour-schedule/ for a full list of tour stops. The schedule will be updated with specific information about events as they are confirmed.

You can support the tour by going to an event in your town, hosting tour members at your house for a night or for dinner, or by donating to their (tax-deductible) gas fund here: http://undoingborders.wordpress.com/how-you-can-support-the-tour/. Contact them directly at havoqers@gmail.com.

Stay connected with No More Deaths online:

Check out our new blog, Border Realities
Join the Facebook group
Our YouTube channel
Follow us on Twitter: @NoMoreDeaths

Stop Sandra's deportation!

2011-08-31T21:37:49Z

Stop Sandra's deportation!

URGENT: Sandra Lopez is currently being held in Eloy Detention Center where she is facing deportation to Mexico, a country she hasn’t been to since she was just days old. She will be deported soon if we do not do something NOW. Please take immediate action to tell John Morton to grant her parole and defer her deportation—Help bring her home to Tucson, AZ!

Please help. Take a few moments to SEND ONE EMAIL and MAKE TWO PHONE CALLS.

Sandra was brought to the United States when she was only days old. She has been living in Tucson her whole life, but is currently facing deportation to a country that is foreign to her. Now 20 years old, Sandra wishes to continue with her education and contribute to her community, but has been held in detention for six months and counting. Thanks to Sandra’s determination and the help of several committed organizations and individuals like you and yours, Sandra still has a fighting chance.

A national campaign surrounding Sandra’s case was launched on July 25 and has delayed deportation once. Sandra is engaged in a unique asylum case and the courts have acknowledged her “credible fear” surrounding removal to Mexico. This is a critical step forward, yet Sandra remains detained with the fear of removal hanging over her. Despite Sandra’s “credible fear,” despite her hopes for asylum and for a future with her own ambitions and her own family, friends, and community around her, Sandra is still facing detention and deportation! If deported, Sandra will be sent back to and left unaccompanied in a country she hasn't been to since she was 15 DAYS old!

Please act now to help bring her home!

1. Make Two Phone Calls. If you get an answering machine, please leave a message of support.

Call Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano:
202-282-8495
Call Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security John Morton:
202-732-3000

Sample script: “I am calling to ask Secretary Napolitano/Assistant Secretary Morton to take a stand for Sandra F. Lopez (A number 200-704-493). Sandra is a vital member of the Southern Arizona community who has lived in this country since she was 15 days old. She is facing deportation unless Secretary Napolitano/Assistant Secretary Morton grants her parole and deferred action immediately! I am asking that the Department of Homeland Security intervene for Sandra’s well-being. Her time is running out and a credible fear surrounding her removal to Mexico has already been established. Please do not allow another young member of the community to be locked away in detention only to be deported and ripped away from her home. Thank you."

2. Send an Email. Please use this link to send a letter to John Morton and ask all of your contacts to do the same as soon as possible.

SEND MORTON AN EMAIL

THANK YOU.

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