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Response to Obama announcement on immigration. North West Detention Centre Resistance, 23 November 2014
Greetings, NWDC Resisters!
NWDC Resistance had a BIG day Friday at the detention center. Thank you to the over 50 people who gathered in person, and the many more who were there in spirit, including people who couldn't come because of distance, people detained, and our friends and loved ones who have been deported.
For all those who couldn't (and could) be there, here is the play-by-play of the day!
HEARING
We started out the day at 8 AM, attending the final deportation hearing for Ramon Mendoza Pascual--a central hunger strike leader--along with NWDC Resistance organizer, Veronica Noriega, Ramon's partner. Ramon can now celebrate and know his 56 days of hunger strike made a difference: his family will be shielded from threat of deportation under President Obama's announcement. However, it is unlikely Mr. Mendoza himself will be protected from deportation, as the President's action will likely intensify deportations against people criminalized by the penal system. However, the Department of Homeland Security maintains the authority to use prosecutorial discretion to close Mr. Mendoza's case and keep his family intact. Stay posted for news on Ramon's case. PRESS CONFERENCE
By 10:00 AM, we had set up our canopies and banners and were joined by five major TV news channels for our press conference. We shared the bittersweetness of President Obama's announcement, highlighting some of these stories of communities who will be excluded from the executive order.
We wanted to celebrate how the courageous and relentless organizing of hunger strikers in the NWDC and undocumented communities and allies in the PNW and across the nation had successfully compelled the President to take the action he did. We all should be able to claim this as a victory. But we also wanted to be very clear this executive order is not the end goal: it is only a milestone in the longer fight for dignity and justice for ALL people.
While his action will shield millions against the threat of immediate deportation, heavy on our hearts are the millions--and many within our own NWDC Resistance and PNW community--who would be excluded and even more harshly targeted by ICE's deportation machine. We will keep fighting until that machine is completely dismantled.
At the press conference, two families shared how the action came too late to save their families from separation, how one but not two parents could be offered relief, how police-ICE collaboration through the "Secure Communities" program had targeted people, and how unfortunately, the President's action may simply rename such collaboration instead of dismantling it entirely. We heard stories from families who could not be present-- one of a Yakima farmworker father who re-crossed the border as part of a protest action to rejoin his daughters, the other Veronica's family, who were at that moment behind the barbed wire just in back of our press conference, attending Ramon's hearing. Farmworkers from Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Community to Community came from Bellingham to share how farmworkers will be excluded. A representative from Entre Hermanos shared how LGBTQ people will continue to be targeted for deportations as most will not qualify for relief.
MEDIA ROUNDUP · Earlier in the morning, NWDC Resistance organizer Maru Mora Villalpando and her 17 year old daughter, Josefina Mora, were featured guests on Democracy Now and offered insights into what the President's action will and won't do for families like theirs. · King 5 visited La Colectiva last night & interviewed Ashley and Veronica Mendoza, Ramon & Veronica's daughters, and visited Casa Latina as well. · A great summary breaking down the details of the President's announcement from Colorlines. · The News Tribune
NEVADA PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
At 1:00 PM, we watched the President's second announcement which reiterated his speech Thursday night. NWDC Resistance member Angelica Chazaro sums up our response to the President's speech:
"I am disturbed by reports that the President will continue to draw lines between deserving and undeserving immigrants that our movement long ago rejected. I am concerned that the President’s announcement will focus ICE’s devastating power on the members of our community that we refuse to leave behind – immigrants without children, LGBTQ immigrants, and the young immigrant men of color most likely to be targeted for arrests and convictions that will disqualify them for relief. Our definition of family goes beyond families that include US citizen children. Our idea of justice rejects using detention and deportation as a punishment for those who have been caught up in the criminal system. We will continue fighting, not just for the inclusion of all of our community members in deferred action, but for an end to the laws and policies that criminalize our communities and funnel immigrants into detention centers." - Angelica Chazaro
Filled with patriotic language, the President acknowledged the immigrant roots of many U.S. American citizens while leaving out the heritage of colonialism and genocide, slavery, and imperialism that are in many ways responsible for our country's current demographics. The President said immigrant communities needed to "make amends," but took no responsibility for the ways U.S. economic and military policy have triggered global South-to-North migration. As we celebrate our milestone victory and continue to build a broad movement for migrant justice, we need to stick to our values without falling into the political rhetoric or paradigms of what is possible.
CONCERT!
At 1:30 PM, we partied. We sang Jaula de Oro by Tigres del Norte, a song about living undocumented in the U.S. three times loudly enough that the people detained out on their exercise break in the yard could hear us. We kept up the noisy serenade with beautiful live musical performances by Tomás from Community to Community, Rolando Martínez, and Correo Aéreo. Bailamos. We danced. We stayed warm with new outdoor heaters (yes, you can come to NWDC and stay warm and dry)!
Thank you for all the work you have done, for your donations, for your support, and your energy. See you out in Tacoma sometime soon!
-NWDC Resistance
P.S. Check out our press release below and stay posted for more photos at https://www.facebook.com/NWDCResistance P.P.S. Please support local organizing and join the NW Detention Center Resistance Facebook page for updates.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maru Mora Villalpando, 206 251 6658, maru@latinoadvocacy.org B. Loewe, NDLON, 773.791.4668, bloewe@ndlon.org
Northwest Detention Center Resistance Sees Results in President’s Immigration Announcement, Vows to See it Implemented and Expanded Executive Action Announcement Responds to Grassroots Pressure, Fight for The Excluded Continues
More than a year and a half since grassroots groups around the country started the #Not1More campaign to move the President to halt deportations, end progra ms that criminalize immigrants, and expand the relief granted to young people in 2012, Northwest Detention Center Resistance see all the sacrifice and courage of its members who pressured the Administration has led to results.
“We decided we couldn’t suffer in silence any more,” explains Jose Moreno, a leader of the hunger strike that rocked the detention center in Tacoma this past Spring. “The President couldn’t say he felt our pain while he was causing it. Our communities stood up and said 'not one more'.”
The Presidents announcements last night and today at 2 PM were the culmination of organizing efforts to protect individuals from removal, separate local law enforcement from federal deportation efforts, and grant work authorization and relief from deportation to undocumented Washingtonians.
Undocumented organizer Maru Mora Villalpando adds, “The national consensus turned against hateful politics. With ICE’s abusive actions being rejected across the country, it was only a matter of time before the President had to act. Now, with more of our community safe, we have to fight for everyone left out. We’re all equally deserving whether the President has recognized it yet or not.”
At a press conference this morning outside the Detention Center, organizers with NWDC Resistance sharply condemned some aspects of the President’s action, including the limitation of relief to parents of US citizens and the continued entanglement of local law enforcement with immigration enforcement.
Meanwhile inside the detention center, Ramon Mendoza Pascual, his family and supporters attended Mr. Mendoza's final deportation hearing. Mr. Mendoza was one of the central leaders of the historic hunger strike last spring. He can now celebrate and know his actions made a difference as his partner, with whom he shares three children--one a U.S. citizen--will be shielded from threat of deportation under President Obama's announcement. However, it is unlikely Mr. Mendoza himself will be protected from deportation, as it is possible the President's action will intensify deportations against people criminalized by the penal system. (However, the Department of Homeland Security maintains the authority to use prosecutorial discretion to close Mr. Mendoza's case and keep his family intact.)
Mr. Mendoza's story was one of many shared by family members of detainees and people already deported, representatives of the LGBTQ community, and farmworkers, who spoke at the press conference, pointing to the ways their communities and constituencies remained in on-going danger of detention and deportation, and vowing to continue the struggle for all who will be excluded under the executive action. NWDC Resistance and the national Not One More campaign will keep up the fight for truly not one more deportation. Events nationwide can be found at http://bit.ly/n1mchant
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