Report from U.S./Mexico Border
From Sásabe to Tucson: Report back from the US/Mexicoborder
Thursday, July 20, 2006
6:00PM to 8:00PM
Asian Resource Center
310 Eighth Street – Lobby
Oakland, CA
Four blocks from the 12th St./Oakland City Centerand Lake Merritt BART stations
Please RSVP to Sheila at (510) 839-7598 or sheila@immigrantrights.orgby Tuesday, July 18
Organizedby:
: MarianaBustamante, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project
: SheilaChung, Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition
: Ramseyel-Qare, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of San Francisco (ADC-SF)
: LillianGaledo, Filipinos for Affirmative Action
: ArnoldoGarcia, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
: NancyHormachea, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of San Francisco(ADC-SF)
: GeraldLenoir, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Members ofCongress are hosting dog-and-pony show hearings in border towns and across theUnited States to drum up support for increased border militarization andinterior enforcement – strategies that have failed to deter unauthorizedmigration. Rather than hear from immigrant communities affected by thesepolicies, extremist legislators are stacking their hearings with anti-immigrantproponents. Their tales are far from the realities at the border…
In mid-June, 40 delegates (seven from the BayArea) toured the Arizona/Mexico border with the National Network for Immigrantand Refugee Rights and Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human RightsCoalition). In Sásabe, Mexico, we spoke with migrants preparing to crossthe treacherous desert and mountains, carrying nothing more than a backpack and2 gallons of water. In Tucson, we watched the court proceeding of six mensentenced to jail and deportation solely for having crossed into the U.S. tomake a better life for their families. We met with the coroner’s officeand toured the facility where the migrant dead are kept, learning aboutthe gripping number of human beings that have died at the border fromdehydration, abuse and vehicle accidents. We also met with members of theTohono O’odam nation whose sacred lands have been divided by the border. Join us as we share these and other stories of devastation and hope from theborder.
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