Below is the speech given at the labor caucus at the Democratic National Convention by Olivia Vazquez from Juntos.
My name is Olivia Vazquez. I’m here as an undocumented immigrant and a youth organizer at Juntos. Even though I’m here to talk to you as a DACA recipient, I am also here to talk to you as someone from a family of workers and I want you to see me as that.
My mother has worked in restaurants for 15 years. Read more
Puro Philadelphia #Not1More #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/iitidzR7T3
— Not1More (@Not1_More) July 25, 2016
On the first day of the DNC, 500 people marched to demand Democrats be the “anti-Trump” on immigration. That means the candidates calling for an immediate moratorium on deportations, DHS shutting down the Berks family detention center 60 miles west of Philadelphia, and the President dismantling the expansion of ICE to actively demonstrate their expressed commitment to immigrant rights and to stand in sharp contrast to the attacks launched by Clinton’s opponent during his acceptance speech.
Before it was an issue taken up by candidates, immigrant rights groups were already pushing the President to make immigration policy more humane. After the Supreme Court allowed the injunction on the deferred action deportation relief program to continue in US vs Texas, the national #Not1More campaign launched a petition that now has over 50,000 individual signatures calling on the President to act on immigration and issue a moratorium on deportations. Read more
Erika Almiron, executive director of Juntos and the woman who forced the detention question into the townhall explained the rationale behind her question: “You can’t be for women and not actively working to free the mothers at Berks from detention. The Obama Administration is operating the facility without a license and we wanted to see not what Clinton promises for the future but what she’s doing now for the women inside.”
City Stands as Bright Spot Amidst Week of ICE Intimidation and Terror
“On his first day in office, newly elected Mayor Kenney reaffirmed that the City of Philadelphia is in fact the city of brotherly love. As ICE raids sew new levels of fear in our communities, Mayor Kenney is making sure local officials have nothing to do with it, ” explains Erika Almiron, director of Juntos. Read more
On Monday, June 22nd, 2015, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gave a guided tour of Berks Family Detention Center to NGO Working Groups to highlight how Berks is a “leading example” in the detention of undocumented immigrants. Local and national organizations, including Juntos, GALAEI, Migrant Power Movement, Gran Varones Project, Transgender Law Center, #Not1More, and Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, publicly opposed these efforts and believe that Berks Family Detention Center is not a model for detention and in fact oppose the idea of detaining our communities all together. We know from first hand accounts that families inside the Berks Detention Center are subject to inhumane conditions and this is not an isolated situation. We also know that LGBTQ Immigrant detention is heavily defined by its inhumane practices. LGBTQ immigrants are 15 times more likely to be assaulted or abused than other detainees. Queer liberation will not be actualized until there is an end to the physical and sexual abuse of LGBTQ detainees and immigrants. Queer liberation cannot be complete until the end of all detention centers and absolutely depends on the end to all deportations.