“What We’ve Seen Since the President Announcement isn’t Relief. We’ve seen ICE doing whatever it wants with no accountability.”
October 6th, 2015 – Nationwide
On the heels of Candidate Hillary Clinton saying the White House is too harsh on immigration and as news breaks about ICE attempting to penetrate local institutions, circumventing its own standards, the #Not1More deportation campaign announces a national series of actions the week of November 20th, the one year anniversary of the President’s executive action, to challenge abuses in enforcement and detention including rallies and likely civil disobedience at various sites.
“Defending the partial expansion of deferred action is not enough from this Administration when immigrants are still being subjected to cruel treatment in detention and the threat of deportation in their homes,” explains Tania Unzueta of the #Not1More Campaign. “President Obama’s executive action did not resolve the immigration question in the U.S. it has just made the criminalization and separation of immigrant families less visible.”
“The Democratic candidates have made promises to expand relief but we’ve heard promises before,” adds Marisa Franco of #Not1More. “ Meanwhile the current administration is treating the inhumane practices at ICE as something it’s already dealt with. The best step any candidate can take to prove what they’ll do in the future is urge the current President to implement their promised fixes now.”
Citing cases such as Francisco Aguirre, the Portland labor leader who ICE retaliated against by recruiting Dept. of Justice prosecution for re-entering the country, Christina Lopez, a transwoman encountering medical neglect in detention, or two men in Louisiana that ICE is seeking to deport despite their open civil rights complaint, the campaign urges oversight and accountability at ICE.
In addition to the anniversary of the President’s announcement, November 20th is also the National Trans Day of Remembrance, marking the dozens of transgender people killed in the past year, and will bring special focus to transgender detainees who make up 1 in 500 of the detention population but 1 in 5 of those who experience sexual abuse.
Isa Noyola of the Transgender Law Center adds, “Trans women are being murdered at alarming rates globally, especially in the U.S. We’re mobilizing next month because transgender immigrant women are still facing incredible acts of violence inside detention centers. Recent memos ICE has produced haven’t made us safer or ended ICE’s transphobia that denies our right to exist.”
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