Religious, Labor and Civil Rights Organizations Call for an Immediate End to Immigration Raids
Statement
Philadelphia [January 3] — The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and more than 60 human rights organizations across the country urge President Bush to issue an executive order that declares an immediate moratorium on community and work site raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Our organizations, representing labor, religious and civil rights groups across the country, urge the administration to work with Congress to build humane, rational and fair immigration policies. We call for this action after witnessing the worksite raids that occurred at Swift meatpacking facilities in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Utah.
We call upon the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Inspector General of Homeland Security to immediately investigate allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of the more than 1,200 workers apprehended in the raids.
Strong-arm tactics and the excessive use of force in the raids were evident. Workers who appeared to be Latino were separated from non-Latino looking workers. Federal officials refused to provide timely information to family members, clergy or attorneys, and in some cases threatened to arrest those seeking information about their loved ones.
Some of those detained were relocated to Camp Dodge, a military detention facility. Attorneys and clergy were not allowed into the detention center for several days. The ICE national telephone inquiry line did not provide information to relatives or attorneys about the whereabouts of detainees for nearly 48 hours.
Workplace raids continue a campaign of terror that criminalizes workers who are only seeking jobs and a better life. They do nothing to fix the nation’s broken immigration system and only serve to polarize how immigrants are perceived. They promote discrimination and racial profiling, and sow fear and uncertainty in the nation’s immigrant communities. Such actions weaken the social and economic fabric of our community and threaten the basic civil and human rights of immigrant and non-immigrant communities alike.
The December 12 raids occurred on an important religious holiday for many families — a day to pay tribute to the Patroness of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe. To target Latin American immigrants, many of whom are Catholic, on such an important religious holiday shows a grave disrespect for their religious beliefs.
With Congress poised to address immigration reform in the new year, if the administration is truly committed to a fair immigration policy and justice for the nation’s families, workplace and community raids must be stopped now.
Campaign Endorsers
In the spirit of the season and our nation’s commitment to justice for all, we urge the Bush administration to take immediate and decisive leadership to address this deplorable community crisis and inhumane action. We urge organizations and individuals alike to join us in this call for an immediate halt to immigration raids and to urge the Bush administration and Congressional leaders to take immediate actions that produce a constructive and fair policy resolution to the nation’s immigration debate.
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NATIONAL “END THE RAIDS CAMPAIGN ”
CAMPAIGN ENDORSERS
As of July 01, 2007
In Alphabetical Order
Alianza de Federaciones y Organizaciones Mexicanas (California)
Alianza Ministerial (Denver Colorado)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Massachusetts Chapter
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
American Friends Service Committee
Americans for Indian Opportunity
Anti-Racist Initiative of Thessaloniki
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Athens Friends Meeting (Georgia)
Ballon Rouge
Beacon Presbyterian Fellowship
Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Massachusetts)
Brazilian Immigrant Center
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
CAAAElII (Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois)
California Prison Moratorium Project
Care2
Carolina Interfaith Taskforce on Central America
Casa de Esperanza (New Jersey)
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Fresno
Catholic Charities Immigration Services
CAUSA (Oregon)
Center for Intercultural Organizing (Oregon)
Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of Law
Central California Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship
Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores
Centro Presente (Massachusetts)
CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles )
Church World Service, Immigration and Refugee Program
Coastal Progressives
Coloradans for Immigrant Rights
Colorado Democratic Latino Initiative
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
Colorado Progressive Coalition
Compañeros (Colorado)
Confianza, an Association of Latino Ministers (Colorado)
Community Psychiatric Clinic; AFSC
Community to Community
Concilio Latino
Congress of the People-Poor! (Georgia)
Coordinadora de Lideres Comunitarios (Georgia)
Creighton Center for Service and Justice (Creighton University, Nebraska)
DARRT (Denver Area Race and Reconciliation Team)
DayStar Books
Democratic Party of Contra Costa County
Denver Justice and Peace Committee
Design Guidance
Dignity through Dialogue and Education (Colorado)
Dominican Development Center
Drum Major Institute
Economic Justice Coalition
Education Without Borders (Oregon)
8th Day Center for Justice (Illinois)
El Centro Amistad (Colorado)
El Centro de Las Americas ( Nebraska)
El Centro Humanitario (Colorado)
Elders of 4 Colors 4 Directions (California)
Eyes Wide Open International
Fair Immigration Reform
Families for Freedom
Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC - North Carolina)
Fellowship of Reconciliation
First Friends (New Jersey)
First Hispanic Baptist Church
Food Not Bombs
Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Fuerza Latina (Colorado)
General Political Activist
Georgia Peace with Justice Coalition (Atlanta)
Global Labor Strategies
Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace
Greenwich Friends Meeting, Greenwich, NJ
Haitian-American Initiative Toward Integration (H.A.I.T.I.)
Haiti Solidarity Network of North East
HarborCOV
Hate Free Zone Seattle (Washington)
Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana
Hispanic Development Corporation (New Jersey)
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Immaculate Heart Community
Immigrant Legal Center of Boulder County
Immigrant Rights Network of Iowa and Nebraska
Immigrants’ Rights Task Force of Jubilee Interfaith Organization
Impeach for Peace - Marshall
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Right
Interfaith Refugee Action Team – (New Jersey)
Interfaith Worker Justice
International Institute of New Jersey
Irish Immigration Center (Massachusetts)
Jobs with Justice (Georgia)
Jobs with Justice (Oregon)
Jobs with Justice, Eastern Massachusetts
Kansas United
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (National Office)
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (Massachusetts Chapter)
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (San Antonio, Texas Chapter)
Latin American Coalition (North Carolina)
Latina/o Roundtable
Latino Community Advocacy Program
Latino Network (Oregon)
(The) Latino Network
(The) Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA - Colorado)
League of United Latin American Citizens
League of United Latin American Citizens (Metro-West Council, Massachusetts)
Living Praise Choir
Madera County Peace and Freedom Party
Massachusetts Global Action
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Matahari - Eye of the Day (Boston)
Miami Quarterly Meeting, Quakers
Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA!)
Mujeres Que Crean
National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
National Employment Law Project (Washington)
National Farm Worker Ministry (NFWM-North Carolina)
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild Cardozo Student Chapter
National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest
NH Sisters of Mercy Immigration Committee
New Jersey Human Rights Organization
New Jersey Immigration Policy Network
9to5, National Association of Working Women
North American Peace Outreach
Orange County Peace & Freedom Party
Oregon Fair Trade Campaign
Oregon Farmworkers Ministry
Our Lady Queen of Peace
Oxford Citizens for Peace & Justice (OH)
P.E.A.C.E. (People's Earth Action for the Conservation of the Environment)
Pajaro Valley WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
Pax Christi-Athens (Georgia)
Peace and Freedom Party of Fresno County
Peace and Freedom Party of Riverside Co.
Peace and Freedom Party, California
Pedagogue Milestones
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
People of Faith (Connecticut)
Pine River Friends Meeting
Project IRENE (Illinois Religious Enabling Nonviolent Endeavors)
Pueblo Sin Fronteras/La Familia Latina U
Queers for Economic Justice
Raven Rocks Press
Regis University Peace and Justice Club (Colorado)
Rights for All People (Colorado)
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
Romero Center-Camden,NJ
Rural Communities Resource Center (Colorado)
Rural Organizing Project (Oregon)
Sacred Heart Province JPIC
Salem Keizer Coalition for Equality (Oregon)
Sikh Community Center (Baltimore)
Sisters of Mercy,NH Area
Sisters of St. Francis
Social Concerns Committee, Sisters of Charity
Society of the Divine Savior
South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow
South Austin Coalition
South Texas Immigration Council, Inc
Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning (Colorado)
Stanley Jones Clean Slate Project
Student Action with Farmworkers
United Dubuque Immigration Alliance (Un Dia)
United for Justice for Peace (Massachusetts)
United for Peace and Justice
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Hispanic Ministries of North Alabama
Visalia Friends Meeting (California)
Voz Workers Rights Education Project (Oregon)
Winston-Salem Friends Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns Committee (North Carolina)
Witness for Peace Northwest (Oregon)
Woodbridge Workers Committee
And 1,445 individual endorsers
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