Wed. 9/11: #DefundHate. Make this call.

This week marks the anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies in American history. When the forces of hate took human form, turned planes into weapons and destroyed over 3000 lives.

Hate has again taken human form, in the malignant leaders of our own government. Every day, we see crimes against humanity being sponsored with our own tax dollars. That we are seriously arguing as whether or not a facility is a concentration camp, shows how far we’ve fallen. That we sit quietly, while young children are dying or being terrorized in our custody, shows that we are not who we think we are.

Continue reading “Wed. 9/11: #DefundHate. Make this call.” →

Sat. 7/13: “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

― Quote by Benjamin Franklin

Action – Allies: arm yourself with information and be ready to step in and help.

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 14th, our president will start terrorizing peaceful people living amongst us in order to crank up his base and dislodge a string of embarassments from the news. These may include: his 4th of July event bankrupting DC’s security fund, retroactively creating a Revolutionary War airforce, the government’s own lawyers trying to jump off the census question ship, he and Jeff Epstein having to pay 28 women to give them the time of day, or former President Jimmy Carter saying that “He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”

What we do know is that allies who stood together with those who may be affected at yesterday’s ~~700~~ 800(!) Lights for Liberty vigils have more work to do. We’ll be asking you to make calls and write to legislators, but we’ll also ask that you use your “superpowers” when you can. Those of us who are cloaked in the invincibility of citizenship and knowledge of our laws have a responsibility to monitor the actions of our increasingly out-of-control government.

Being confronted by law enforcement in any circumstance is a stressful experience. The potential trauma of family separation or being placed in an inhumane detention camp can make it even harder for someone to think clearly. Or even breathe. Although allies can’t physically interfere with arrests, we can give people time to regain composure, document law enforcement actions, and help protect their rights. Continue reading “Sat. 7/13: “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”” →

Fri – 7/12: Some inspiration for the over 700 Lights For Liberty protests being held across the nation tonight…

As of this morning, the protest count has reached over 700!!! Find your closest event here. Or come to ours here. Additional information and actions you can take here and here.

President Reagan bequeathed us a complicated legacy, including the origination of some of the worst problems we’re facing today through the same kind of lies that Trump uses every day. He did, however leave behind one true gift – this great speech on the importance of immigrants to America.

Our own Congresswoman Julia Brownley steps up, as you can see in the video below. Let’s do her proud this evening. (Call and thank her in DC (202) 225-5811 or email her.)

Continue reading “Fri – 7/12: Some inspiration for the over 700 Lights For Liberty protests being held across the nation tonight…” →

Thurs 7/11: Get ready, get set…Join us at the #LightsforLiberty vigil tomorrow.

First, a little music…

Good news!

AB-32, CA’s bill to close private detention centers within our state passed from the Public Safety Committee, thanks to Sen. Jackson and all you callers! Now it’s on it’s way to Appropriations.
This just in! The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony related to the “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings, detention or short-term custody of children or migrant families, and “discussions about or offers of presidential pardons to Department of Homeland Security officials or employees.”

Bad news!

The government is searching in five U.S. cities for properties large enough to imprison up to 500 hundred kids (fortune). Properties with 20-year leases... No, guys, the Flores agreement stated 20 DAYS!
ICE just did what Congress told them not to do…they opened up three new for-profit immigration detention centers in the last few weeks.(mother jones)

What you can do on…Join in on Friday for the Lights for Liberty vigil.

Throw your friends and family in a car and join us! Almost 50 community groups will be participating in a peaceful protest for LightsForLiberty, this Friday 7/12, at the ICE offices in Camarillo. Facebook post here. It’s an evening vigil,from 7-10, so bring a flameless candle (law enforcement has asked for no real flames.) Continue reading “Thurs 7/11: Get ready, get set…Join us at the #LightsforLiberty vigil tomorrow.” →

Mon 7/8: AB-32 is now in Public Safety. Call Hannah-Beth again today and tell her to keep up the fight against the private prison business.

Your calls to Senator Jackson were heard! Do it again!

“Bank of America to cut ties with companies that help run immigrant detention centers, private prisons.” (USA Today)

“We must address the complete scope of what’s going on in these Wall Street-run corporate detention facilities. California should not be home to companies that are profiteering from the tearing of innocent children from their families. This is inhumane and goes against who we are as Californians and Americans.

“It’s time California takes a stronger stand for the humane treatment of those being detained or incarcerated in our state and be a model for others across the nation. We are better than this and we cannot and must not be silent during this inflection moment in our history.” – Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland)

Action – Call State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson TODAY and tell her to again vote “YES” on AB-32.

Last Tuesday, Senator Jackson helped push this bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s now in the Senate Public Safety Committee, and she’s on that too! Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 9th, she, along with fellow senators Skinner, Moorlach, Bradford, mitchell, Morrell and Wiener, have on opportunity to help outlaw private prisons in CA, including immigrant detention centers, and all the human misery that come with them, by voting “YES” on AB-32. Continue reading “Mon 7/8: AB-32 is now in Public Safety. Call Hannah-Beth again today and tell her to keep up the fight against the private prison business.” →

Tues 7/2: Immigration judges and ICE are deliberately using high bail to fill up jails. Tell our legislators to stop this abuse and and have a SALE on BAIL!

Action – Ask your legislators to lower minimum bail from $1500 to $100 and to recycle that $1500 into a maximum bail cap.

Advocates say that one of the most effective ways of reuniting children and families is to pay their bail. The minimum bail to rescue a guest of our concentration camp system starts at $1500 a head per federal law and has no upper limit, reaching as high as $250,000. Under Trump, both immigration court judges and ICE officials are increasingly denying bond requests altogether, or setting them at amounts in excess of $10,000, deliberately making them unaffordable for many immigrant families. With all the overcrowding, why so much? After all, CA sets minimum bail for citizens (pg. 14) at $50 for infractions and $500 for misdemeanors. High bail keeps asylum seekers and others locked up in increasingly inhumane conditions at taxpayer expense or forces their families to use predatory bail bond companies with high upfront fees, mandatory ankle monitors and monthly charges. It also sucks away money they need to hire lawyers to help them plead their cases. Let’s ask legislators to fix this nightmare system, reduce the minimum bail and cap the maximum, and get people back with their families.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Rep./Sen. [___] to sponsor legislation to reduce the legal minimum bail required from $1500 to $100 and institute a maximum cap of $1500 for those who pose no danger to the community and little flight risk or who comply with FreedomforImmigrants.org’s bond program requirements. Continue reading “Tues 7/2: Immigration judges and ICE are deliberately using high bail to fill up jails. Tell our legislators to stop this abuse and and have a SALE on BAIL!” →

Tues 7/2: CA Senate Judiciary Committee is voting on AB-32 at 1:30 pm today! Call Hannah-Beth this morning and tell her that we want out of the private prison business too.

“Bank of America to cut ties with companies that help run immigrant detention centers, private prisons.” (USA Today)

“We’ve all seen the current humanitarian crisis play out along the southern border. No human being deserves to be held in the horrific conditions we’ve been seeing in these for-profit, private facilities. It’s clearly not enough to focus our legislation on prisons alone.

We must address the complete scope of what’s going on in these Wall Street-run corporate detention facilities. California should not be home to companies that are profiteering from the tearing of innocent children from their families. This is inhumane and goes against who we are as Californians and Americans.

Action – Call State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson THIS MORNING and tell her to vote “YES” on AB-32.

Today at 1:30, our Senator Jackson, along fellow members of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Senators Borgeas, Durazo, Gonzalez, Jones, Monning, Stern, Umberg and Wieckowski) have on opportunity to help outlaw private prisons in CA, including immigrant detention centers, and all the human misery that come with them, by voting “YES” on AB-32.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “YES” on AB-32.

Contact:
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD-19): SAC (916) 651-4019
Not your people?: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Thurs 6/27: Yeah, they’re concentration camps…so now what do we do?

Action #1 – If you haven’t called your legislators on HR 2415/S.1243 – Dignity for Detained immigrants” yet – start here.

Go to this link and follow the instructions in Action #3 on that page to make a 10-second call to your legislators.

Action #2 – Check out local activities!

Activities listed here.

Action #3 – Congress’s final funding bill must comply with humanitarian basics.

Both houses have passed their bills for funding addressing the humanitarian crisis at the border. Both versions include stipulations regarding migrant care and prohibit the use of the funds for a border wall. However, the Senate bill offers the Pentagon funding and has fewer rules on how agencies can appropriate the funds. The House bill has many more restrictions on how the administration can use the money and contains clear standards for the care of children. It also bans the HHS secretary from waiving requirements for facilities designated as “emergency influx shelters”, which is how the administration has gotten around the 20 days maximum of the Flores Settlement. This is how some kids in Homestead, Florida have ended up detained for as much as 8 or 9 months. Next, our legislators have to reconcile the two versions.

Continue reading “Thurs 6/27: Yeah, they’re concentration camps…so now what do we do?” →

Mon 6/24: “Things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz.” Tell your legislators to defund hate and uphold human rights. 4 actions.

Quote by Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps. She describes camps as “a deliberate choice to inject the framework of war into society itself. …You are revoking the human and civil rights of non-combatants without legal justification…. you don’t have to intend to kill everyone to have really bad outcomes.”

(Go here for today’s LOCAL SOCIAL JUSTICE actions)

Action #1 – Take a moment to watch history merge with the present.

Great! We’ve fallen so low that the 99-year-old former prosecutor at the Nazi Nuremberg trials has spoken out in protest of the Trump Administration’s treatment of refugees as crimes against humanity. Below is a fascinating 60 minute conversation with a sharp, humorous, ferociously kind man who discusses our immigration laws, war, war criminals, remorse, reparations and the hope he has for our students. What he says here is why we resist. (Download the Universal Declaration of Human Rights here.)

Action #2 – Be an active resister. Speak out against the Sunday Raids.

Last Monday, our president took a moment from his busy day to threaten immigrant communities with a massive ICE raid, perversely nicknamed the “family op“. Continue reading “Mon 6/24: “Things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz.” Tell your legislators to defund hate and uphold human rights. 4 actions.” →

Wed 6/5: Cut funds for Trump’s deportation machine and thank your reps for pushing through H.R. 6 – the “American Dream & Promise Act!”

Action #1 – #DefundHate – Ask your congress member to use their vote to protect immigrant families.

Funding for immigration enforcement has exploded under Trump, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have received billions in additional funding, some taken from other agencies, to tear gas, separate, and cage families, and to terrorize communities. House Democrats must act during this year’s appropriations process to reduce funding to the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Control back to its Obama-era levels, and to rein in the worst abuses of these agencies.

Our particular members of Congress, Reps. Carbajal and Brownley, are not members of the Appropriations committee, but they can still have a meaningful impact on the process by voting against any funding bill that increases the ability of ICE and CBP to enforce Trump’s racist agenda.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep. [___] to commit to voting against any funding for ICE and CBP enforcement and sign the letter led by Reps. Jayapal, Pocan, Castro, and Chu calling on the House Appropriations Committee to #DefundHate.