BREAKING: LGBTQ Immigrants Stage Civil Disobedience in front of Santa Ana City Jail to Protest the Detention of LGBTQ Undocumented Immigrants

 Civil Disobedience Occurring at: 60 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701

Santa Ana, CA – Trans and queer immigrant activists have formed a triangular human chain linked to a metal cage blocking the entrance of the Santa Ana Police Department to call on the city of Santa Ana to terminate its contract with ICE which imprisons trans and queer people in abusive conditions in the Santa Ana City Jail. These protestors demand President Obama stop the deportations that separate families and communities. This act of civil disobedience aims to lift up the voices of the more than 267,000 undocumented LGBTQ immigrants living in the U.S. and call for “liberation, not deportation.”

Those risking arrest include many directly impacted by deportations, including Ronnie Veliz, 29, a queer migrant of faith and public health organizer who grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He states, “Authorities might claim it is safer for our marginalized population to be locked in LGBTQ pods inside detention centers, but we know that is not the case. I am risking arrest because my family values, faith, and roots will not allow me to remain silent or delay justice, so we need to abolish the criminalization, dehumanization of LGBTQ people, the prisons, and detention systems.”

The Obama administration has deported a record number of more than 2 million people, including many LGBTQ undocumented immigrants. Despite President Obama’s continued call for immigration reform and the current DHS review underway looking to revise deportation policy, undocumented queer and trans immigrants living in the United States continue to be persecuted by inhumane immigration enforcement policies, including discriminatory practices based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Laura Kanter, 50, a LGBTQ Rights advocate from Santa Ana, CA, says, “The disproportionate, inhumane and unjust criminalization, detention and deportation of Queer and in particular Trans* immigrants is part of a larger industrialized system of profit and power that must be abolished. We came together to fight for marriage and now are leaving our Immigrant brothers and sisters behind – and by doing so – are contributing to the same systems of power that oppress all of us. The progress of the LGBT struggle for equality, including marriage, is meaningless until every person is seen as fully human and treated with dignity and respect.”

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LGBTQ Immigrants and Allies Risking Arrest in Civil Disobedience

Isa Noyola

El/La para TransLatinas Advocate & Program Manager at LYRIC’s - Sequoia Leadership Institute , was born in Houston, Texas and comes from culturally rich familia from Comitán, Chiapas and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Isa identifies as a translatina, gender fluid, activist, two-spirit, queer, jota, muxerista, and chingona cultural organizer. Isa is passionate about abolishing oppressive systems that criminalize trans & queer im/migrant communities of color. Isa's vision for thriving communities include sharing wisdom through inter-generational spaces and amplifying lived experiences through art and culture.

Steve Zamarripa

29, is a queer man of color born and raised in Santa Ana, California where he works in his community spreading the message of visibility, acceptance, and liberation. A proud son of immigrant parents coming from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, he is proud to be Latino and to represent that community. A longtime member of community organization DeColores Queer Orange County, he feels passionate about family and hopes that ending deportations and incarcerations will stop breaking immigrant families apart. “Too often we are marginalized and treated in a ‘separate but equal’ manner and that needs to stop. I am not asking for equal rights, I’m demanding the human rights that I was born to have, and I’m talking about something bigger than marriage.”

Laura Kanter

Director of Youth Services at The Center OC. When she is not organizing with youth, she likes to take pictures of birds and spend time with her wife. Laura believes that if human beings have the opportunity to evolve, the future is Queer. Having just turned 50, Laura is committed to using her voice and body to confront the white supremacist systems that maintain oppression and bring awareness to the reality of Queer and Trans* Immigrants who are routinely marginalized, robbed of dignity in society, and exploited for the ends of others.

Ronnie Veliz

29, a queer migrant of faith and Public Health organizer who grew up in the San Fernando Valley said, "How can we take pride in saying God bless America when right here in Santa Ana we have a detention center making daily profit from detaining and traumatizing LGBTQ immigrants. Every day our undocumented Trans and Queer siblings face harassment, segregation, and solitary confinement in the detention machine. Authorities might claim it is safer for our marginalized population to be locked in LGBTQ pots inside detention centers, but I refuse to believe that's the safe haven we pray and provide for UndocuTrans and UndocuQueer siblings in the U.S. I am risking arrest because my family values, faith, and roots will not allow me to remain silent or delay injustice, so let's abolish the criminalization and dehumanization of LGBTQ people and abolish the prison industrial complex together! Don't stop at marriage, Trans and Queer folks continue being incarcerated and deported. Not one more."

Ramiro Alexis Gonzalez

A queer gender nonconforming xican@. He's a fashion design student at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo and a co-founder of the Queer Student Coalition on campus. I am here because my privilege has given me a voice that my trans and queer undocumented familia was robbed of by capitalism and colonialism. I am here because their race, class, gender, sex and legal struggle is my struggle. We cannot continue to tolerate the criminalization and destruction of our community. Undocumented Queer and Trans lives matter.

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