ABLE/Gamaliel
Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment
IMMIGRATION
Immigration Task Force Co-Chairs
Beatriz Santeliz (l) and Renee Cail (c)
with Willa Rose Johnson (r), ABLE Organizer
_______________
TAKE ACTION NOW!
The Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
is the most anti-immigrant law enacted
in our nation's history!
BUT
We have an historic opportunity NOW to have some
of the more onerous provisions of this law repealed in
the lame duck session, as part of the economic stimulus
bill which will be before Congress when they reconvene.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Contact your representatives in Congress and ask
everyone you know to contact theirs.
Click here for AILA InfoNet to find your representative
Ask that positive immigration provisions be added to the
economic stimulus bill which will be before the Congress.
Specifically:
1. Repeal the 3 and 10 year bars to return, of provision
212(a)(9)(B) and (C).
Too many families have been ripped apart as a result
of these horrific provisions.
2. Repeal 241(a)(5)-"Reinstatement of Removal."
Through this terrible provision, many unsuspecting
immigrants are arrested at their "adjustment of status"
interview, and then deported without a hearing.
3. Reinstate and make permanent 245(i), and advance
the registry date by 20+ years (currently 1972).
All of these changes would help keep families together,
bring a windfall of filing fees and taxes to our government,
and help our economy.
Instead of spending millions to arrest, detain and deport
immigrants, and tear apart their families, we will give many
a chance to regularize their status, and their lives.
These changes can and should be added to the
economic stimulus bill and enacted this year!
They will be if enough of us who believe that
"we are a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants,
and continually enriched by a flow of immigration,"
work for
their passage.
ACTION ALERT
ABLE Action Report
Great job to everyone who participated in
ABLE'S Immigration Action on Tuesday!
For those of you who could not join us, this
is what happened:
35 concerned people of faith came together to deliver a decorated
Christmas tree, a gift basket and 1,500 signed Christmas cards to
the Sheriff of Gwinnett County, who has been trying for months
to get his department into the 287(g)
program (http://www.ice.gov/partners/287g/Section287_g.htm).
After praying outside, we brought the tree through security.
We filled his office and presented the gifts to two representatives
of the department, who did not want us to come up to the office
but somewhat graciously accepted the gifts once we were there.
We prayed
together and sang Feliz Navidad as we left.
The action was covered by 11 Alive, Atlanta Latino, Mundo Hispanico,
Gwinnett Daily Post, Barash Productions (a
documentary company), and the radio show GLAHR Informa.
The AJC also announced the action on Monday, and the
radio station El Patron interviewed
Pastor Carlos Gutierrez Monday.
ABLE Immigration Action
Join ABLE on
Tuesday, December 16th
10am
Gwinnett Sheriff's Headquarters
(click for directions)
2900 University Pkwy. NE
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
The sheriff of Gwinnett County has applied to enter
into the 287(g) agreement, a program that would allow
local officers to enforce national immigration laws,
thereby risking racial profiling and breaking up families.
We have already seen the unacceptable effects of 287(g)
in Cobb and therefore stand firm in our opposition to its
implementation in Gwinnett.
Come join us as we express our concern
to the sheriff and remind him that Jesus,
whom he calls Lord, was an immigrant.
December 9, 2008 Press Release:
ABLE Opposes 287g in Gwinnett County
For immediate release
ABLE, (Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment), will conduct a local action at the headquarters of Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway on December 16, 2008, at 10AM, to demonstrate their opposition to the Sheriff’s application to enter into the 287g agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Religious leaders, community leaders and ABLE organizers will present more than 1,000 signed Nativity cards, a decorated Christmas tree and a Christmas gift to Sheriff Butch Conway at his offices, located at 2900 University Parkway NE in Lawrenceville, GA. Sheriff Conway has stated that the people of Gwinnett County support 287g and “have made it clear they think it is important.” The Christmas cards that ABLE will bring to the headquarters dispute that claim. ABLE will remind him that Jesus was an immigrant.
Atlanta, GA, December 9, 2008 - - The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Section 287g, offers training in identifying illegal immigrants to local law enforcement and gives them the authority
to enforce certain laws in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security. At the current time, Cobb County, Hall County and Georgia State Police have obtained Memoranda of Agreement for participation in 287g. ABLE feels that 287g seriously increases the risk of illegal racial profiling which has already been reported by some predominantly Latino churches in Gwinnett County. There have been deportations of mothers and fathers whose children are legal citizens of the United States. We must address the issue of illegal immigration in ways that protect the security of the United States, keep criminals out of our country, but also provide a path to citizenship for the millions upon millions of immigrants who came to this country seeking a better way of life and have broken no laws since their arrival. ABLE believes immigration is a complex issue that is best addressed at the FEDERAL level.
ABLE is a multiracial, interfaith coalition of congregations, unions, and grassroots organizations that develops and empowers ordinary people to become leaders who effect change in their communities for the common good of all. ABLE is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation, for whom President-elect Barack Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago.
For further information, please contact:
Reverend Tracy Blagec , ABLE
542 Moreland Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-218-7913 Phone, 404-377-4884 Fax
tblagec@aol.com, www.gamaliel.org/ABLE