SWOPblogger

National Day of Action to Stop Anti-Immigrant Repression & Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Join the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights with its members and partners to Raise Our Voices for Justice & Human Rights!

Join us on Tuesday, August 28, 2007, - in a national day of action to expose and continue denouncing the devastating humanitarian crisis being visited on immigrant families, workers and communities by U.S. policies and actions in border control, immigration law enforcement and services.

Please call your Congressional delegation, urging them to take immediate action to stop the migrant deaths and disappearances at the border and to end all immigration raids and a moratorium on the detention and deportation of all immigrants.

Take Action for Immigrant Rights!

Please call or fax your Congressional delegation (two Senators and one Representative) to demand an investigation into the horrific numbers of migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border and to call for hearings to end immigration raids and immigrant detentions and deportations.

To find your Congressional delegation's telephone and fax numbers, open the link below and then click on your state, then click on your two Senators' and Representative's name to find their district offices numbers:

English: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Español: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/index.es.html

Tell them to stop the repressive ICE and Border Patrol operations and to change the immigration policies that are terrorizing and violating the rights of immigrant families, workers and communities.

In your voice make an urgent call for:

* Socially just legalization that protects and expands the rights of all immigrants, keeps families together, provides access and options to permanent residency and citizenship

* Stopping the deaths of migrants at the border and demand a Congressional investigation into the root causes of the humanitarian crisis being caused by immigration enforcement and services

* Ending the militarization of border and immigration control, which deliberately cause the deaths and disappearance of migrants on the border

* An end to all immigration raids

* A moratorium on all immigrant detentions and deportations

* Restoring and expanding the due process rights of all immigrants

* Uphold the labor rights of U.S.-born and immigrant workers: Repeal employer sanctions and all employment verification systems, including Social Security no-match letters

* Protecting and expanding the civil, labor, and human rights of all immigrants and refugees

Raise your voices and take action as part of the growing movement calling on Congress and on all people of good conscience to stop the raids and the jailing and deportations of all immigrants.

Immigration Policies Are Causing a Humanitarian Crisis

Over 200 deceased migrants have been recovered from the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona in the last 11 months; about half of all migrant dead are recovered in Arizona alone. Migrants are dying and disappearing in the desert and mountainous regions of the border as a result of deliberate U.S. policy called "prevention through deterrence," forcing migrants to risk their lives in order to reunite with their families in the U.S. or find work to survive.

An average of two migrants who have died from dehydration and exposure to the natural elements are found every day on the U.S. side of the border. Border community groups estimate that for every deceased migrant recovered, at least ten others are missing.

Since 1994, when the current strategy was implemented, over 4500 migrant dead have been recorded deliberately caused by the U.S. government's failed border and immigration control policies that force migrants through the most deadly and isolated desert and mountainous regions of the border.

The Department of Homeland Security is using immigration law enforcement strategies that destabilize and traumatize immigrant communities everywhere and are causing horrific migrant suffering and deaths on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Operations involving ICE and Border Patrol agents, as well as other law enforcement agents, have led to a widening assault on migrant communities, where neighborhoods, stores, and workplaces are targets of indiscriminate immigration raids, and where jailing and deporting of thousands of documented and undocumented immigrants occurs on a daily basis.

Starting in September, the U.S. will have enough jail space to imprison as many as 31,000 immigrants per day. The Bush Administration will also dramatically increase the resources and funding to jail and deport immigrants, increasing its law enforcement personnel with thousands more ICE and Border Patrol agents who, in collaboration with local police, will be hounding immigrant families, workers and communities to fill private and public jails with space exclusively meant for immigrants.

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados

310 8th Street Suite 303 * Oakland, CA 94607
Tel (510) 465-1984 Fax (510) 465-1885

www.nnirr.org
www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com

The National of Action to Stop Anti-Immigrant Repression is being convened by
The National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights with
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
AFSC Project Voice
Colonias Development Council
AFSC U.S.-Mexico Border Program &
Border Agricultural Workers Project

For more information, call or email:
* Arnoldo Garcia, (510) 465-1984 ext. 305, agarcia@nnirr.org
* Veronica Carmona, (915) 873-6475, carmonav@zianet.com
* Isabel Garcia, (520) 770-2373, chita.garcia@yahoo.com
* Carlos Marentes (915) 873-8933, marentes@farmworkers.org
* Christian Ramirez, (619) 885-1289, cramirez@afsc.org
* Pedro Rios, (619) 233-4114, prios@afsc.org

Labels: ICE, Immigration, immigration reform, migrant deaths, NNIRR