Stand With Ana

Ana hasn't eaten in 11 days. She, along with five others, are fasting until President Obama acts to stop separating immigrant families. Ana is taking this bold action after she suffered family separation at the hands of immigration authorities. In October, Ana was deported to Mexico, and separated from her husband and two U.S.born children, ages four and six.

Ana eventually made her way back to the United States. She is scared of getting deported again, and being separated her from her family. Nearly 32,000 people face Ana's fate everyday. But the impact is far greater, reverberating through families, communities, and schools. When members of our community, parents, siblings and partners are removed, we all lose stability and security--and the fabric of our communities is torn apart.

Ana is participating in the Fast For our Families, an indefinite fast demanding a suspension of immigration raids and deportations until comprehensive immigration reform can make its way through congress. The fast started in Naranja, Florida with a dedicated few and has spread across the country to NY, Texas, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and beyond.

The letter below is also endorsed by: Miami Workers Center, We Count!, Farmworkers Association of Florida and South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice, along with our national partners at the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).

By taking action you are sending an email to Secretary Napolitano and signing onto the letter, which is a public document. By adding your organization affiliation you are confirming that your organization is signing onto the letter.

Subject:

Your Letter:

I am writing to you to express deep concern about the state of siege that American families with immigrant relatives live under each day—and to ask that you use your power to immediately stop breaking up families. Family separation must end now.

On New Year’s Eve, half a dozen people, immigrant and non-immigrant, in Miami said “Enough! No more family separations!" They had their last meal, entered St. Ann’s Mission in Naranja, Florida, and began the “Fast for Our Families” (www.fastforfamilies.org.). For the past 11 days, with pride and fierce discipline they have consumed only liquids. They've been joined by others across the nation. They will continue to fast until there is earnest dialogue with the Department to bring relief to American families. I fully support the fasters demands, and ask that the Administration act now in its executive authority to:

1.      Suspend the deportation of immigrants with American families, especially families with U.S. citizen children or spouses until Congress acts to fix the broken immigration system; and

2.      Meet with the fasters, and hear from them firsthand the conditions that moved them to take the desperate action of fasting indefinitely.

I will no longer watch as communities and families are terrorized by the likes of Sheriff Arpaio; by militarized ICE home raids; by unlawful, unconstitutional detentions; and by unfair deportations. I am sickened by seeing children left motherless; husbands and wives torn apart; families losing their sole providers; and young people, through no fault of their own, left to fester in jails. I, and the rest of the U.S., am not served by this irrational enforcement of broken laws, such as with the case of the unjust imprisonment of Jean Montrevil, a highly respected leader in New York, married to a US citizen with four American children.

The Obama Administration says it will bring change to the conditions immigrants and their families are facing in this country. Unfortunately, things have only become worse. Many in Congress and the Administration say that change is slow and we must be patient. There are concrete changes that you have the authority to institute now. I urge you to restore dignity and respect not only to immigrant families but to the office of your Department.

Please act now our country cannot wait.

Sincerely,

Janet Napolitano

DHS
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
DC 20528
US

Fax:(202) 282-8401