Contact: Sandra Castro, Puente Movement, media@puenteaz.org, 323-493-2844
Phoenix Parents with Children in Detention Begin Hunger Strike for their Release,
Call for Not1More Deportation
What: Not1More Deportation Hunger Strike Launch
When: TODAY, Monday February 7 at 5:00pm
Where: In front of Phoenix ICE Field Office, 2035 N Central Ave
Who: Parents,
Spouses, and loved ones of five people currently being held in the Eloy
Detention center, members of Puente Arizona, supporters.
Today,
President’s Day, as faith leaders, immigrants, and supporters are
praying for an end to deportations in front of the White House, 5
mothers are beginning a hunger strike, having
exhausted all other routes to see their children released from the
detention centers they're held in pending imminent deportation unless
ICE uses its discretion in their cases as it's instructed to do.
Hermina Gallego, a hunger striker and participant in the civil disobedience prayer vigil in Washington, says, "I'm
fasting for my daughter because she has been in detention for over 5
months. "My daughter is sick and she is not getting the proper treatment
she needs. I am fasting because every day that my daughter is in
detention is a day that her health is in danger. If I don't do
anything, she could die."
Hermina’s
daughter’s case highlights the urgent need for the President to take
immediate action and stop record deportations. While it is undisputed
that the President has the legal authority to
expand the deferred action for childhood arrivals program and suspend
deportations for all undocumented people, he has chosen not to do so
thus far. Recent polls show the majority of Americans believe that the
government's main focus should include the undocumented, not deport
them.
Lourdes
Hernandez, a fast participant whose husband has been detained for over a
year after being racially profiled by Phoenix PD, says, "Most
undocumented families in the United States have already lived through
the risks of getting here and the dangers of the work we do. We've lived
through days of unplanned hunger and now accept it willingly."
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Anselma
Lopez, another fast participant whose son has been detained for almost 3
years, says, "If there is not room for us, mothers who miss our sons,
at the center of this conversation, than we hope our empty stomachs
change that conversation. Our sons' imprisonment hasn't been enough to
get them to act. We hope our hunger strike will. If not, what happens to
us will be on their hands."
Hunger Striker bios available at http://puenteaz.org/
Jose Valdez already lost one son when he was
deported to Mexico and killed upon return. Now, Jose is afraid for the
life of his youngest son, Jaime Arturo Valdez Reyes. For over a year,
Jose has been struggling to bring his son home from detention after he
was arrested for a DUI charge. Jose, his wife, and his brother have been
marching, protesting, gathering signatures, and supporting other
families, but ICE still won’t let Jaime return to their home. Jose’s
wife is beside herself with the grief of losing one son and fearing the
loss of another, “Do you understand what it’s like for a mother to lose
her son? I go to work, I’m thinking about Jaime; I come home work, I’m
thinking about Jaime.” Twice a month, Jose and his brother, Luis, visit
Jaime in detention, and often worry when they notice his weight dropping
and his energy slipping. Jose says, “I am fasting for my son who is in
detention. I am also fasting for the other men and women who sit in
detention everyday awaiting to return to their families.”
Jovana Renteria is the legal director for the Puente Movement. Jovana has been a staff of Puente for over 5 years and has been committed to helping reunite families. Jovana is going to fast for 14 days because she has witnessed the suffering that families and detainees endure due to the broken immigration system. As an ally, Jovana believes that she must fast with the families to show her support and let the families know that they are not alone and to reaffirm that the community stands with them.
Hunger Striker Bios
Lourdes Hernandez was on her way
home from a evening Christmas party with her husband and three children
when they were stopped by the police. Her husband, J Cruz, was
wrongfully arrested for a DUI, without so much as a breathalizer test,
an act of racist injustice that her daughters witnessed and have not
forgotten. Lourdes and her two eldest daughters have done everything
they can to defend J Cruz and bring him home: working extra hours to pay
hundreds of dollars for lawyers, speaking out against the wrongful
arrest, going door-to-door in their neighborhood for petitions to ICE.
Seeing her 19 year old daughter working 80-hours a week and fearing that
her youngest son will grow up without a father, Lourdes has now decided
to fast for 14 days to bring her husband home. Lourdes explains, “My
husband has been in detention for over 13 months. My children suffer
every day that they are apart from him. My family is not complete
without him, I need him home now. I am fasting so that everyone knows
that I will put my body on the line to keep my family together.”
Maru Martinez is fasting for her “big
bear”, her eldest son and best friend, Arturo, was arrested for working,
taken to jail, and threatened with deportation. She couldn’t sleep and
after a few days, told her husband she thought she wouldn’t make it,
thinking of taking her life. Coming to the Puente Movement, Maru has
found hope, standing side-by-side other mothers in struggle fighting to
bring home their children. Maru took her petition to the County
Prosecutor, declaring that “working is not a crime”. She has made videos
and petitions about her son, spoken at rallies not only for her son,
but for all mothers to be reunited with their children, and demonstrated
outside of ICE on Christmas, mourning a holiday without her son. When
Maru goes to visit her son, they joke together, because they fight hard
to keep each other’s spirits high, but in truth, Maru cannot accept
seeing her son behind bars any longer. For the next two weeks, she will
sit in front of ICE, hungry for justice, hungry to see her family
reunited again. “We have to fight”, she says, “we will only win by
taking the risk”.
Hermina Gallego and her family, including
her daughter Rosy and her sister Margarita, left Mesa for Mexico when
Hermina’s father was given one month to live. Hermina couldn’t abandon
her father on his death bed. But in Mexico, the family faced violence
and persecution, the reason they left in the first place. Returning
across the border, Rosy and Margarita were detained. Rosy, a 20-year old
DREAMer, is now in Eloy Detention Center, where lawyers say she could
be for years. Hermina can’t wait that long. Rosy hasn’t even had the
opportunity to finish high school, disrupted by her father’s death. The
family has been through too much already, and Hermina is ready to take a
daring move to defend her daughter’s life. Hermina explains, “I’m
fasting for my daughter because she has been in detention for over 5
months. My daughter is sick and she is not getting the proper treatment
she needs. I am fasting because every day that my daughter is in
detention is a day that her health is in danger, if I don’t do anything
she can die.”
Alejandra Sanchez has been living in
Arizona for 13 years. She is a mother of 5 children, 4 of them DREAMERS
and one a United States Citizen. Alejandra is a DREAM Mom in Arizona
which is a national organization dedicated on organizing undocumented
mothers and families. Alejandra has actively been organizing
undocumented mothers and supporting the organizing efforts of her
children for the last 3 years. Sanchez is a representative of the
national DREAMERS Mothers. Alejandra and her husband were stopped and
arrested in by Border Patrol last month where they exercised their
rights and were released within 8 hours. Alejandra has chosen to
participate in the hunger strike because she is representing all the
mothers who have children in detention centers and are too afraid to
come out and fight for their freedom.
Anselma Lopez has been fighting to bring
her son, Elder Gomez-Lopez, home from detention since he was picked up
near the border two and a half years ago. Elder, the father of two young
children, has several serious health conditions that are rapidly
deteriorating and he is being denied appropriate medical care while in
detention. In 2000, he was shot in the stomach by gang members while
living in Guatemala, leaving him with a colostomy bag. He has severe
and ongoing health issues, including gastritis, ulcers, and a stomach
infection, all of which leave him unable to swallow solid food.
Anselma’s fight has been a dramatic and seemingly endless struggle to
save her son’s life and ensure that her grandchildren have a father.
Anselma has filed applications for asylum, plead for help from the
Guatemalan consulate, told her son’s story, marched and protested and
gathered thousands of signatures on her son’s petition over the last
year and a half. Yet, Anselma still doesn’t know if she will ever see
her son outside of detention again, knowing that he will be killed if he
is deported to Guatemala. She is tired of seeing her son slowly die in
detention without medical treatment, and is willing to risk her life to
save her son. “Elder has been in detention for almost 3 years, I am
fasting to bring him home. He should not spend another year in
detention, his children and family need him home.”
Jovana Renteria is the legal director for the Puente Movement. Jovana has been a staff of Puente for over 5 years and has been committed to helping reunite families. Jovana is going to fast for 14 days because she has witnessed the suffering that families and detainees endure due to the broken immigration system. As an ally, Jovana believes that she must fast with the families to show her support and let the families know that they are not alone and to reaffirm that the community stands with them.