March 19, 2014
For Immediate Release
Bay Area Immigrant Rights Organizations Reject White House Token Action:
Call on Obama to Halt All Deportations and End Detention Quotas
On March 13, the Obama Administration called a closed door meeting with immigrant rights advocates to describe what it called a review of current deportation policies so that enforcement can be done “more humanely within the confines of the law.”
The latest move is a response to overwhelming demand to halt deportations from immigrant rights advocates and key Democratic Party leaders, including Janet Murguia, Executive Director of National Council of La Raza, who recently labeled President Obama the “Deporter in Chief.”
The coalition, SF Bay for Immigrant Justice, made up of 24 organizations listed below, is skeptical of this latest White House initiative until a concrete plan is in place to halt all deportations. To date, the administration’s announced immigration “initiatives” have fallen far short, and failed to ease the tragic separation of families that devastate communities on a daily basis.
President Obama has presided over nearly 2,000,000 deportations, at a rate far greater than his predecessor George Bush—and immigrants continue to be detained, deported, and separated from their families at record pace.
Enough is enough. As organizations that see the devastation of deportations in our community, we cannot be silent, nor participate in programs that merely make cosmetic changes.
We demand concrete, systemic, and immediate actions such as: extending DACA to all immigrants; issuing an executive order to halt all deportations; ending “Secure Communities” and other police/ICE collaboration programs; ending workplace enforcement programs such as “E-Verify” and I-9 Audits; supporting the “Bring Them Home” Campaign; and granting humanitarian parole to deported parents who have been separated from their children.
The tide is turning. We call on our friends and allies across the country to keep the pressure on. Now is the time to heighten calls for President Obama to halt all deportations.
For information on upcoming actions and events please contact:
4/4 – National Day of Action to Stop Deportations – San Francisco (hosted nationwide by NDLON): Donaji Lona, POWER,donaji@peopleorganized.org ph. 415-864-8372 ext 301
4/3-4/4 – Women’s Fast For Families – San Francisco (hosted by We Belong Together): Claudia Reyes, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, claudia@mujeresunidas.net
4/5 – Vigil to End Deportations part of National Day of Action – Richmond, West County Detention Center: Rev. Deborah Lee CLUE, dlee@clueca.org, 510-893-7106 ext 319
5/1 – May 1st Regional March: Ariana Gil Nafarrate, Mujeres Unidas y Activas//Oakland Sin Fronteras, ariana@mujeresunidas.net
Bay Area Coalition for Immigrant Justice and its member organizations signing on to this statement:
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
ACUDIR – Alameda County United in Defense of Immigrant Rights
African Advocacy Network
AROC – Arab Resource & Organizing Center
ASPIRE
CARECEN of Northern California
Causa Justa Just Cause
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice –CA
Dolores Street Community Services
East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition
Good Samaritan Family Resource Center
Jobs with Justice
La Raza Community Resource Center
Local 87
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Our Family Coalition
Pangea Legal Services
POWER – People Organized to Win Employment Rights
SF Day Labor Program & Women’s Collective
San Francisco Interfaith Coalition on Immigration
San Francisco Organizing Project –Peninsula Interfaith in Action
San Francisco Labor Council
Transgender Law Center
Young Workers United
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