Moratorium on Deportations Campaign

An Exploration of Deportation and Incarceration
Thursday, April 5th at UIC, 750 S. Halsted St.
The following is Jose’s testimony given at the Forced Out forum, making those connections between the immigration system and the Prison Industrial Complex.
——————–
Good morning everyone,”Buenos dias a todos,” as I share the following with you, I will want for us to think about detention and deportations of immigrants as part of the prison industrial complex. And — Immigration policies, as part of the many laws that are made by a system, for the purpose of punishment and profiting out of the lives of humans.

My name is Jose Guadalupe Herrera Soto; I am considered a criminal, an illegal alien, a person without proper documentation. I have been labeled a felon, someone with a criminal background and have been stigmatized by such labels and terminologies.

You might ask who is behind all of these labels and imposed terminologies. Well — behind all of this, stands an unjust and racist US system of oppression that targets marginalized communities. This system was build for the purpose of profiting out of the criminalization, illegalization, racialization, incarceration and deportation of human beings; a system that pushes people into breaking capitalistic laws and thus turns humans into commodities.

You see, in 2008 I broke some of their capitalistic laws. For the lack of a driver license my offence became an aggravated felony. I was offered a deal of serving “only 60 days” in a state prison if I was to plead guilty. I was told by my public defender, “Just take the deal, you will be out in no time.”

I witness many of others who were people of color that plead guilty and took these kinds of deals, in exchange for reduced time in prison. I decided not to follow the pattern and continue to challenge my case; as a result I spent 3 months in the Cook County jail.

I was released under probation for three-years and subject to many other mandatory court orders. A one-time offence and not having a driver license led to a short experience of being confined to cages, restricted and isolated from society.

Today, I’m challenging the system that questions my legality in the US. I’m fighting a personal battle against immigration authorities. Despite their attempts to deport me, I continue to be part of the immigrant struggle, the struggle that fights for all people – not just for a small few who are portrayed as being worthy.

As you heard earlier in my testimony, the situation where I am now, started because of my encounter with the prison system. Because of this and after my case was dealt by the Cook County Court, I was turned over to another “racist” structure, the immigration system.

The US Department of Homeland Security argues that I’m an alien present in the US who wasn’t admitted properly or arrived through the proper ways. I do not agree with them, migration is what humans do; there should be no restrictions on this– period.
Here I am to tell the government, that I’m not an alien, I’m not conforming, nor I will be part of their “racist” system, I refused to be a commodity. I’m human; I’m a person of color, a Father, a student, a son, an immigrant. I resist, challenge and I fight back through my organizing.

I have been labeled a criminal;therefore I stand up and join the struggle of those who are labeled criminals. I join the struggle of fellow human beings who are struggling to survive under the racist capitalist system we live in. I join the struggle of the marginalized, of the poor, of people of color. I join the 2.3 million people, who are behind cages, and I make no distinction between them and I, we are one, we have been labeled “criminals” by the racist system, the oppressor, the one that tries to silence and destroy our communities. In form of resistance, we speak out and fight back; we challenge and organized against the criminalization, illegalization, and incarceration of human beings.

Here today I ask from all you, to join in the struggle as well, to advocate on behalf of us, the criminals the illegal aliens.
No, to the business of selling and profiting of humans.
Yes, to the abolition of detention centers, prisons, and the capitalist system.
We humans are not commodities and will continue to fight and make alliances to combat this. I am Jose Guadalupe Herrera Soto and I am grateful to share my testimony with all of you here today. Thank you!

Departure rally: March 30, 3:30 PM, Cook County Jail, Chicago
Arrival gathering: April 1, 12-1PM, By Crete Park (corner of Main St and 1st St), Crete IL; 1-4PM Procession through Crete

Walk a block with us, walk a mile with us, join us for a stop along the way, or meet up with us in Crete. Below you will find the route and schedule — each day we will update as more details become available  so that you can find out where we are and meet up with us. Check back often for daily updates!  Also please see information and logistics for walkers.

Contacts:
Jose Herrera josefromchicago@aol.com 773-632-9992
Rozalinda Borcila rborcila@yahoo.com 813-789-0123

Friday, March 30: (Little Village, Back of the Yards, Chicago Lawn, Wrightwood, arrive in Evergreen Park)
– 3:00-3:30 – Gather at Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, 3442 W 26th St Chicago
– 3:30-4:30 – gathering and rally at Cook County Jail, Corner of 26th St and California Ave
– 4:30 walkers step off; walk South on California, West on 45th St,  South on Kedzie
–  6:00 PM – break, St Gall’s Parish, 5515 S. Sawyer Ave
– walk South on Kedzie, East on 81st St
–  9PM – arrival at St Thomas More, 2825 W 81st St – spend the night

Saturday, March 31
:  (Beverly, Blue Island, Harvey, Homewood, arrive in Chicago Heights)
–  8:00 AM walkers step off; walk South on California, East on 95th, South on Western
–  10 AM, rest: Kennedy Park, Western Ave and 113th St; continue South on Western
– 11:30 AM rest in Blue Island, Western and 129th St
–  walk South on Western, East on 147th St; South on Wood, East on 155, South on Center, East on 157st and reach Halsted
–  3:30-4:30 PM  lunch at 15734 S Halsted St, Harvey (Stephanie’s Place)
– 4:30 PM – Holmes Park: 161st and Halsted, Harvey — rally with Human Action Community Organization
– walk South on Halsted
–  6:30-7 PM rest, Halsted and 190th St
–  9:00 PM – arrival in Chicago Heights: Nena’s Bakery/Mariscos La Laguna, 2316 Chicago Rd – dinner and spend the night

Sunday, April 1st
–  9AM walkers step off from 2316 Chicago Rd, Chicago Heights
– Walk South on Chicago/Rt 1
–  12 PM – 1PM – GATHERING/CONVERGENCE by Crete Park, corner of Main St and 1st St
–  1PM – 3PM procession through Crete with several stops for actions and messages – end at proposed detention center site
– 4PM – return to buses

WHY WE WALK – commitments
– No detention of immigrants – not in any back yard!
– Our families are being torn apart, so we walk together as one large family.
– The walk is a expression of the experiences of communities who have been criminalized – we are committed to immigrant justice and to full human rights, full dignity, for all. We do not accept the division of good immigrants vs criminals.
– No profit out of the criminalization, illegalization or incarceration of human beings
– Borders and cages do not create just and safe communities
– Detention is about dividing society into prisoners and their jailers. Creating an incarceration nation will devastate all our communities. We refuse to be the captives, and we refuse to be the captors.
– Detention is about an open market in the business of selling human lives. Detention centers are a new prison experiment, an old product re-packaged in new ways. Detention camps, concentration camps, interment camps, prisons serve the same repressive function

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT

There are many ways you can participate or show your support for this action and join the fight against detention.
– Endorse our action and points of unity: send an email with the name of your organization or group to: moratoriumondeportation@gmail.com
– Use your networks to spread the word about the struggle against detention. Distribute information about the action as broadly as you can. Hold a meeting to inform your community about detention.
– Make a small donation, cash or supplies, by mail or deliver (daily, 9AM-6PM) to: Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, 3442 W 26th St, Chicago. See contacts, below.
– Walk a mile with us or join us for gatherings along the way – please see route and schedule, and check back often as we add more details (locations and times) for stops, meeting points etc.
– Join us for the rally in Crete: April 1, 12 PM – gather in Crete Park (corner of Main St and 1st St); 1-4 PM procession through Crete.
– Bring documentation equipment and creative skills, help record the event and share your footage, so we may create an image campaign after the walk
– Offer a car ride to to the next stop en route for injured walkers or children who may need a rest
– Rise up, rise up!

Departure rally: March 30, 3:30 PM, Cook County Jail, Chicago
Arrival Gathering: April 1, 12-1PM, By Crete Park (corner of Main St and 1st St), Crete IL; 1-4PM Procession through Crete

ICE is negotiating with the village of Crete and Corrections Corporation of America to build a new Immigrant Detention Center, a prison with the capacity to incarcerate 700-800 immigrants, just South of Chicago. The contract has not yet been signed – and until it is, this new prison can still be stopped. This is a call to action! Join us for a three-day walk as we oppose the new detention center and demand an end to the criminalization of our communities!

Walk a block with us, walk a mile with us, join us for a stop along the way, or meet up with us in Crete. Check back often for daily updates on the route and schedule!  Also please see information and logistics for walkers and how else you can support.

ROUTE AND SCHEDULE

Friday, March 30: (Little Village, Back of the Yards, Chicago Lawn, Wrightwood, arrive in Evergreen Park)
– 3:00 departure event, 3442 W 26th St, Chicago: we walk together to Cook County Jail for a gathering
–  4:30 – walkers step off from Cook County jail, corner of 26th St and California Ave
–  6:30, 30 min break – location TDB
–  9PM – arrival at St Thomas More, 2825 W 81st St – spend the night

Saturday, March 31
:  (Beverly, Blue Island, Harvey, Homewood, arrive in Chicago Heights)
–  8:30 AM walkers step off
–  midmorning stop – 30 min
–  lunch stop – 1:30 PM, 15734 S Halsted St, Harvey
–  3-4 PM – Rally in Harvey: 161st and Halsted, Harvey — with Human Action Community Organization
–  midafternoon stop – 30 min
–  8:30PM – arrival in Chicago Heights: Nena’s Bakery, 2316 Chicago Rd – dinner and spend the night

Sunday, April 1st
–  9AM walkers step off
–  12 PM – 1PM – GATHERING/CONVERGENCE in CRETE – Corner of Main St and 1st St
–  1PM – 4PM procession through Crete with several stops for actions and messages

WHY WE WALK – commitments
– No detention of immigrants – not in any back yard!
– Our families are being torn apart, so we walk together as one large family.
– The walk is a expression of the experiences of communities who have been criminalized – we are committed to immigrant justice and to full human rights, full dignity, for all. We do not accept the division of good immigrants vs criminals.
– No profit out of the criminalization, illegalization or incarceration of human beings
– Borders and cages do not create just and safe communities
– Detention is about dividing society into prisoners and their jailers. Creating an incarceration nation will devastate all our communities. We refuse to be the captives, and we refuse to be the captors.
– Detention is about an open market in the business of selling human lives. Detention centers are a new prison experiment, an old product re-packaged in new ways. Detention camps, concentration camps, interment camps, prisons serve the same repressive function

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT

There are many ways you can participate or show your support for this action and join the fight against detention.
– Endorse our action and points of unity: send an email with the name of your organization or group to: moratoriumondeportation@gmail.com
– Use your networks to spread the word about the struggle against detention. Distribute information about the action as broadly as you can. Hold a meeting to inform your community about detention.
– Make a small donation, cash or supplies, by mail or deliver (daily, 9AM-6PM) to: Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, 3442 W 26th St, Chicago. See contacts, below.
– Walk a mile with us or join us for gatherings along the way – please see route and schedule, and check back often as we add more details (locations and times) for stops, meeting points etc.
– Join us for the rally in Crete: April 1, 12 PM – gather in Crete Park (corner of Main St and 1st St); 1-4 PM procession through Crete.
– Bring documentation equipment and creative skills, help record the event and share your footage, so we may create an image campaign after the walk
– Offer a car ride to to the next stop en route for injured walkers or children who may need a rest
– Rise up, rise up!

Contacts:
moratoriumondeportations@gmail.com
Jose Herrera josefromchicago@aol.com 773-632-9992
Rozalinda Borcila rborcila@yahoo.com 813-789-0123

For Donations contact:
Father Jose Landaverde 773-512-8015
Maria Leon 773-397-9731 (Spanish)

PRESS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19 for March 21^st
Press Contacts
Jose Herrera: 773-632-9992
Rozalinda Borcila: 813-789-012
Father Jose Landaverde: 773-512-8015 

IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND SUPPORTERS ANNOUNCE A 3-DAY WALK TO CRETE
Resist the Crete Immigration Detention Center

Chicago, IL – Immigrant Families, activists, and supporters will embark on a 3 day walk from Little Village, Chicago to Crete Illinois. This action is a response to the “detention center” planned by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the village of Crete. While immigrant rights advocates have been demanding an end to all deportations and immigration reform, the Obama administration has instead done the opposite; deporting over 1 million immigrants and pushing “Immigration Detention Reform.” ICE is currently planning to build at least five detention centers nationwide located in states that have a high concentration of immigrants (California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and New Jersey)

WHAT: Press Conference to announce a 3-Day walk Action to Crete IL.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 21^st at 10:30 AM
WHERE: Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission 3442 W. 26^th St. Chicago IL 60623
WHO: Families affected by the immigration system, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission/Justice Mission, Moratorium on Deportations Campaign (MDC) and supporters.

BACKGROUND:
ICE is negotiating with the village of Crete and Corrections Corporation of America to build a new Immigrant Detention Center, a prison with the capacity to incarcerate 700-800 immigrants, just South of Chicago. The contract has not yet been signed – and until it is, this new prison can still be stopped. “Our families are being torn apart, so we come together and walk as one large family.” stated the Organizers’ website for the Walk to Crete. “Detention is about an open market in the business of selling human lives – Detention centers are a new prison experiment, an old product re-packaged in new ways.” Participants in the walk will be available for interviews.

Itinerary for the 3-day Action
For daily updates visit: http://www.moratoriumondeportations.org

Friday, March 30
3PM-4 PM: Departure event
3PM: Gather at Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, 3442 W 26^th St, Chicago
3:30PM march together to Cook County Jail , 26^th St and California Ave. RALLY:  a gathering to make commitments about the future we want to build together – one which knows no detention or mass incarceration. Add your own sign. Wish the walkers a good journey!
4:30PM-8PM: Walk through Back of the Yards, Chicago Lawn, Wrightwood, arrive in Evergreen Park

Saturday, March 31
9AM-8PM: Walk through Beverly, Blue Island, Harvey, Homewood, arrive in Chicago Heights – rallies along the way, times/locations TBA

Sunday, April 1
9AM-12PM Arrive in Crete
1PM-4PM Gathering and procession in Crete, action at site of proposed Detention Center
6PM-7PM Return to Chicago

###

Next meeting to oppose the Crete Detention Center, and to resist the increasing criminalization of all our communities, is Sunday, March 25  5-7 PM ,at the Justice Mission, 3442 W 26th St, Chicago

click here to download this flyer.

Call to Action: Immigrants Walk to Crete

March 30, 31 and April 1

ICE is negotiating with the village of Crete and Corrections Corporation of America to build a new Immigrant Detention Center. The contract has not yet been signed – and until it is, this new prison can still be stopped. A group of immigrants with and without papers will walk for three days from Chicago to Crete to oppose the Detention Center, from March 30-April 1. We are joined by friends committed to immigrant justice. We are reaching out for support from organizations large and small, from individuals and community groups.  An itinerary with departure times, stopping points and arrival plans is coming soon. Walk with us, even for one mile!

WHY WE WALK – commitments

• No detention of immigrants – not in any back yard
• Our families are being torn apart, so we come together as one large family.
• the walk is a expression of the experiences of communities who have been criminalized  –  we are committed to immigrant justice and to full human rights, full dignity, for all. We do not accept the division of good immigrants vs criminals.
• no profit out of the criminalization, illegalization or incarceration of human beings
• borders and cages do not create just and safe communities
• Detention is about dividing society into prisoners and their jailers. Creating an incarceration nation will devastate all our communities — we refuse to be the  captives, and we refuse to be the captors, so we walk together.
• Detention is about an open market in the business of selling human lives – Detention centers are a new prison experiment, an old product re-packaged in new ways. Detention camps, concentration camps, interment camps, prisons serve the same repressive function

HOW YOU CAN WALK WITH US

• Endorse our action. Please send an email to moratoriumondeportation@gmail.com with the name of your organization or community group
• Use your networks to help spread the word about our efforts and about the Crete Detention center; contact your allies and invite them to add their efforts to the fight against detention . Distribute the flyer and information about the action as broadly as you can.
• Walk a mile with us; join us for gatherings and events along the way – a full itinerary will be uploaded soon, please check http://www.moratoriumondeportations.org
• Help make a small financial contribution – any little bit helps
• Stay connected with us, we will be updating the site every few days. Call us to let us know how else you would like to participate
• Develop your own actions and let us know how we can help. Rise up, rise up!

Next meeting Sunday, March 18,  5-7 PM ,   3442 W 26th St

Walk to Crete at the end of March – arriving on April 1, Palm Sunday.
Goals: intensify opposition to the detention center; create a domino effect to provoke others into action; begin a broader awareness campaign about immigrant detention and about the supposed reform of the detention system. This is a regional and national issue, our voices need to project to that level.

We will form workgroups for the departure, route, arrival, return logistics, messaging/outreach/media.

Departure – a public event to raise consciousness, support the walkers and gather media attention
Departure point: proposals include Little Village or Pilsen area, Cook County Jail, Occupy headquarters; Rainbow Push coalition location, ICE downtown.
Other issues: how can people who do not join the walk contribute to the resistance efforts? (call campaign, for example); a broader call to action

Route –  connect with different communities; rest stops and also points for small or large actions on the way; possibility for people to join the walkers at different meeting points, we want the walkers’ group to grow along the way.
Possible routes: Halsted
Other issues discussed – connect with street medics, legal observers, supply cars; taking care of ourselves along the walk and helping those who are tired, safety.

Arrival – Sunday April 1 at 10 AM-noon?
Possible gathering point: Main St and Exchange parking lot, 1000 feet away from village hall. Find churches to receive us for possible bad weather.
Arrival action ideas: ecumenical service; symbolic/theatrical actions

Next Meeting: Sunday, March 11 at 5PM –  3442 W 26th St, Chicago

Notes from Sunday, March 4 meeting:
* overview of the proposed Immigrant Detention Center intended to imprison 700-750 people, including families; overview of campaign in Crete (see this blog for more background information)

* ACTION: WALK TO CRETE – a large, public and highly visible action as our response
– two possible dates: March 23-25 OR March 30-April 1
– possible routes: either walk from Chicago to Crete, finding a place along the way for an action and to spend the night – 2 day walk  – OR caravan to Chicago Heights and walk from there;
– make contacts with others who would want to participate; make contacts with possible gathering places or hosts along the way; in particular reach out to Chicago Heights

– idea: University Park is very close – maybe a second march from there and meet up in Crete?

possible ideas:
– we have been saying “do not separate families” – ICE responds with a Detention Center Reform and a new generation of private detention centers intended to will lock up entire families – our response is we are one large family

– theatrical or visual elements (chain gang; or build a detention center out of cardboard boxes and destroy it) – presence and defiance
– bring attention to the media and to our communities  — there has been very little public debate about this
– put pressure to intensify resistance to the Center – hopefully start a domino effect of other organizations rising up to oppose the Center
– act quickly, we are behind and cannot afford to wait until the contract is signed
– there is a push to build 5 new detention centers nationally; the Crete one will double the state’s capacity for detained immigrants; if the new infrastructure is built, it will be incredibly hard to dismantle and oppose; it will produce even more incentives to criminalize immigrants
– before next meeting: outreach , possible routes, possible stopping or gathering points (colleges? churches? organizations?)
– informational flyer to distribute to – March 10 events? church groups? raise awareness and bring the issue into public attention
– all of us share what we know with all our organizations, networks, contacts

– involve more people and organizations in the planning process and in the walk

ICE is negotiating with the village of Crete and Corrections Corporation of America to build a new Immigrant Detention Center. The contract has not yet been signed – and until it is, this new prison can still be stopped. This is an invitation to a public meeting where we can share information and break the silence. It is time to fight and STOP this bullshit!

Sunday, March 4, 6-8 PM
The Justice Mission
3442 W 26th St
Chicago IL 60623

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS SENT TO ICE BY CCA

In June 2010, a group of undocumented youth and other organizers came together around a shared desire to open an alternative political space within the immigrant rights movement. We shared a sense that the political horizon of the movement felt constricted, and that liberal organizing models felt unwelcoming and shortsighted. Working together throughout fall and winter, and into the early months of 2011, we saw that our analysis had been limited by always thinking about a system within a system within a system, and proposing Band-Aid solutions that did not address root causes nor offer a broader political vision. We wanted to work in a different way; we wanted to generate a radically different vision of the future that could inspire us. We engaged in an extended experiment in organizing, connecting people around a common idea: immigration is not the problem, and therefore immigration legislation or reform is not the ultimate political horizon of a social justice movement from the undocumented perspective.

What we mean by “undocumented perspective” developed slowly and is still a work in progress. Certainly we mean the perspective, experiences and knowledges of people who are themselves undocumented; but we also mean a political commitment to understanding how the system of global power pushes entire populations “outside” the privileges of citizenship. We consider “undocumented” to express not an identity politics or a special interest-group, by rather a political framework for challenging citizenship as an instrument for criminalizing people and making them exploitable. We reached out to others and tried to form alliances with small, autonomous and grass-roots groups committed to confronting a global economic system that finds profit in the incarceration, displacement, and repression of millions across the globe.

We began our work together in the Mora-torium on Deportations Campaign, which we saw as a meeting place, a space for gathering and dialogue. We went on to organize a series of workshops and speak-outs called the ABC’s of Struggle. We reached out to other organizations and individuals and explored the intersections of various struggles and political issues (such as education, housing, militarization, incarceration, and immigration). We instigated creative expression to inform our political analysis. Within our meetings, we openly discussed questions of privilege and power, the problems with liberal organizing models and the possibilities for collectively building an identity based on politics instead of a politics based on identity. In the spring of 2011 we organized actions for March 10, and then instigated the pubic organizing process for the Chicago Mayday March with other small, grassroots organizations.

On March 10, 2011 we decided to express our analysis of militarization as one of the root causes of the displacement of millions around the world and the illegalization of immigrants here in the US. We wanted to address militarization as a new form of colonization —it is racialized, it is a form of legalized economic exploitation, and it is an ideology that is pervasive in our culture. We gathered in Union Park and declared it a temporary Liberation Square. Next we marched downtown, stopping along the way for an action at the Boeing world headquarters. We staged a people’s trial of Boeing, and by extension of the broader military-industrial complex. Aside from the pre-scripted testimony, the call-and-response nature of the action helped to unleash a collective energy that engaged us all as active participants, not merely an audience for a political rally or speech. Unscripted chants and accusations broke out throughout the action, a sense of collectivity emerging from a shared expression of outrage, urgency and fierceness that was intensely mobilizing. After the trial, the verdicts and calls for restoration, the crowd broke out into a spontaneous street dance party. What follows is the transcript from the people’s trial of Boeing. ◊

~Español Abajo~
YOU ARE INVITED!
JULY 2ND 2011 AT 5PM
*FREE Event-Cash Bar*
*View the exhibit “IN A STRANGE LAND”an exhibit in conjunction with AREA Issue #11, Im/Migrations.
*Meet some of the artists and writers for the next issue of AREA.
*Share music and transnational grilling traditions!
*Make your own flag and/or banner with organizers from the Moratorium on Deportations Campaign.