Press Advisory
For Planning Purposes
For September 2nd Event
Press Contacts
Hugo Esparza 773-220-6387 hugoesparza.cp@gmail.com
Rozalinda Borcila 813-789-0123 rborcila@yahoo.com
Freedom Riders: Immigrants’ Caravan Against Deportations
Organizers for the Freedom Ride Caravan will hold a press conference and final meetingWhat: Press conference to give an update and final details on the Freedom Ride Caravan which will be held on Labor Day weekend, Sept 3rd-5th.
This caravan will travel trough different communities surrounding Chicago to confront xenophobic legislations, English-Only ordinances, Secure Communities, PoliMigra, 287(g) and to push for the passage of the Dream Act. We will hold meetings and actions in the following cities;
Schaumburg, Naperville, Wheaton, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet, Homer Glen, Blue Island, and Bridgeview ending back in Chicago for the Labor Day Rally in Little Village.
The Caravan is organized by the Moratorium on Deportations Campaign together with allied organizations around Chicago.
“We say the only safe community is one that is safe and welcoming for all. Let we, ourselves create these welcoming communities and be sanctuaries for all.” Statement of the Moratorium on Deportations Campaign (MDC) Group
When: Thursday September 2nd, 11:00 AM
Where: 101 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60605. Chicago ICE Headquarters
Who: Moratorium on Deportations Campaign Organizers and Allies
Why: A broad strategy called “secure communities” is quickly and quietly being implemented
around the country, promising the efficient integration of surveillance and policing between local authorities and ICE. What exactly is being sold to us, wrapped up in the language “security” and “community”? What are some of the consequences we have seen wherever Secure Communities policies have been implemented? We have seen a dramatic increase in detention, deportations and family separations. But these effects are not felt only by millions of immigrants and their families: in the context of increased xenophobia, we are witnessing the proliferation of policies that virtually incentivize abusive detentions without probable cause. This is a fundamental erosion of due process and as such affects us all. And when local law enforcement officers become de facto border police, our neighborhoods become de facto border zones: characterized by surveillance, intolerance, and fear.
American “democracy” has become the enforcer of a global economy that pushes much of the world into poverty, while transnational corporations are immune from the devastation they have created. Meanwhile, we pay the costs. In these times of profound economic uncertainty, of environmental devastation, of increasing job insecurity and the accelerated erosion of every aspect of public life, we are to believe that the root cause of the mess we are in are immigrants. We are to believe that due process and transparency make us less safe. We are to live in a state of permanent suspicion and fear. We are to build border walls within our neighborhoods, within ourselves; we are to believe that living behind these walls will make us more “secure”. But we have seen that in oppressive societies no space is ever safe for anyone. We know that what we are being offered is the “security” of a prison world. We will not be fooled by double-talk: by political maneuvers that use the language of “security” and “community” but which actually create insecurity, further destabilize the conditions of people’s lives, and increase conflict and aggression. We refuse to scapegoat immigrants, to believe in the myth of well-being for some through the degradation of others. We demand an end to the campaign of fear, detention and deportation, a moratorium NOW.
Moratorium on Deportations Campaign (MDC) is a group founded to create a space for individuals and organizations to discuss perspectives, share information and coordinate efforts in their fight to get from President Obama an Executive Order for a Moratorium on Deportations. We demand a moratorium on deportations now, but only as a first step for a just and humane immigration system, one which does not know of deportations, detention centers and such. For more info visit https://moratoriumondeportations.wordpress.com/
Freedom Riders: Immigrants’ Caravan Against Deportations VIDEO!
Moratorium on Deportations Campaign 