Dear Liz Marshall,
Trump's attack on immigration is an attack on women. Record numbers of women are fleeing violence at home only to be met with violence at our border, trapped in a brutal global regime of terror that profits from their trafficking, incarceration and murder.
An epidemic of femicide has long raged across Mexico and Central America, making the region among the deadliest in the world for women. As many as 98% of gender-related murders are not reported, the New Humanitarian reports this week, fueling a wave of migration that has tripled the number of women caught crossing the U.S. border from 2018 to 2019. When women and children arrive to seek asylum they are turned back by a series of Trump administration policies to wait for months in dangerous border cities, prey to drug cartel and state violence, or flown in shackles to countries where they are unlikely to find safety. Even within the U.S., migrant women suffer while incarcerated in detention centers.
But it is women who are fighting back!
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This week 80 Cameroonian women sat down in protest at the lack of medical care at CoreCivic's notorious T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas.
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Charlene D'Cruz, an immigration attorney from Wisconsin, is one of the few U.S. attorneys working in Matamoros, the "legal equivalent of a triage nurse racing from patient to patient," to help over 2,000 asylum seekers, most of whom are women and children.
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Over 1,000 religious sisters have volunteered at the refugee camps on the border. Notre Dame de Namur Sr. Mary Alice McCabe began work in the Matamoros refugee camp after a 40-year career fighting with landless peasants against dictatorships in Latin America. "They believe that God will get them to the United States," she said of the migrants, "but the organizing has to be on our part. This just has to stop. It's too evil, and it's killing people."
When we find the news too much to bear, let us follow the lead of the women who, under unimaginable circumstances and against all possible odds, fight for survival and justice every day, everywhere. Read on to find ways to join them in this struggle.
In loving solidarity,
Arun, Jeannette, Tannie, Joseph, Nadine, J.D., Juan Carlos, Rae, Andrew, Michelle, and the rest of the team at No More Concentration Camps!
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 Photo Credit: Reuters file
If you want to know what is at stake this election, consider the whiplash court ruling over the Migrant Protection Protocols. First, on Feb. 28, a federal appeals court blocked the policy forcing thousands of asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico to await hearings. Then, once the Trump administration complained without evidence the ruling would flood the border and present severe security issues, including "unchecked coronavirus entry risk," the court paused its own order. Caught in between were 60,000 migrants trapped in refugee camps on the U.S. border. Hundreds gathered at the border causing chaos and " dashed hopes."
Adding to the Trump-created chaos is coronavirus. The White House is considering further border restrictions to fight the looming pandemic, while within the U.S. the "public charge" rule could contribute to a public health crisis in the U.S. as migrants no longer seek medical care due to fear of deportation.
In 2010, teenager Sergio Hernández Güereca was standing unarmed on Mexican soil when a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent killed him. On Feb. 25, the Supreme Court Hernández v. Mesa ruled that victims cannot sue CBP agents, meaning "U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are permitted to kill noncitizens just across the border with impunity."
In addition to using lawsuits and SWAT-style teams, the Trump administration can withhold funding from "sanctuary" cities and states to enforce its crackdown on undocumented immigration due to a federal appeals court ruling this week. The Trump Administration is now seeking a Supreme Court ruling that could deport millions by denying them due process. The U.S. Justice Department established a department that can strip citizenship from naturalized immigrants. |
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Migrants Create New Communities
A consequence of the Remain in Mexico policy, new migrant communities are growing in places like Tapachula on the Mexico-Guatemala border, where Ghanian cooks, Cuban barbers, and Haitian hair braiders try to make the new country home.
Secret camps of undocumented immigrants are scattered around south Miami-Dade, Florida, Now their children attend school for the first time.
Organizing - And Winning!
Members of the second-largest Hmong community in the U.S. protested in the Central Valley on Feb. 27 against the Trump Administration plans to deport 4,000 Hmong.
Doctors for Camp Closure and Never Again Action held a national action on Feb. 26 to raise awareness about Migrant Protection Protocols in San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, DC, Newton and Plymouth, MA, and New York.
Following Greyhound's announcement last week, Concord Coach Lines will also refuse to let Customs and Border Patrol board buses to make arrests without a warrant or the company's consent. In Texas, Harris County Commissioners voted to approve a resolution that would be the first-ever deportation legal defense fund in the state. |
Photo Credit: Daniele Volpe, New York Times
A child at a secret camp in Florida. Photo Credit: Daniel Varela, Miami Herald
Photo Credit: John Walker, Fresno Bee
Doctors for Camp Closure
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Maryland
Massachusetts
Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Massachusetts is hosting 11 events to spread the word about what they witnessed at the border. Visit their event page to find one near you.
New York City
North Carolina
Ohio
Texas
Eighty women who engaged in a sit-down protest at the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility were transferred to another detention center where they are in danger of deportation. Follow Grassroots Leadership in Austin on Facebook for more information on how to support them.
Join Witness at the Border for Out of the Darkness: Bring Your Light to the Border on Saturday, March 14, 6-9 pm, at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville. Check out the event page.
Vermont
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Doctors for Immigrants
Do you know a doctor or nurse? Please share this resource with them! Doctors for Immigrants has prepared 13 policies and actions that can help protect the health and safety of immigrants in the medical system from the effects of Trump administration policies. |
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#TakeBackTech!
Mijente has created a Workshop Guide and Comic to share what they've learned through their #NoTechForICE campaign to help communities organize against tech company collaboration with ICE. |
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How Exactly Do Those Policies Work?
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Get Your Message Out
Is there an inspiring story of immigration organizing in your community? Send us ideas and contacts, so we can feature them in our blog! We want to share organizing stories to inspire others to take action and to show that you don't always need experience; just passion and persistence can pave the way.
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