"Not One More Danilo" Campaign Hopeful After ICE Signals Lopez May be Eligible to Stay

Dear Friends of Migrant Justice, "This is more than just fighting my deportation; this is about setting an example that we can come together with the national movement to end deportations and fight for our rights”.-Danilo at ICE Dentetion Center on Thursday

We are rapidly approaching July 5th-- the day that ICE is forcing Danilo to leave the country and we write with hopeful news!

Thanks to all the public pressure, outpouring of community solidarity and influential letters of support a victory is in sight!

Less than 12 hours after we submitted Danilo's high-profile case for Prosecutorial Discretion, ICE  legal counsel called Migrant Justice.  The bad news is they said they won't grant prosecutorial discretion before July 5th. The good news is that they've indicated that on July 5th Danilo should apply for a 'stay of removal' and that he has, in their words, "a lot of ammo on his side" to be able to stay!!!

Though we've got a long way to go we are very hopeful! To continue to build this campaign please consider donating here and keep recruiting people for more petition signatures here. More action to come soon!

 "Not One More Danilo" Not One More Deportation Day of Action

Click on Pic for Slideshow

 On Thursday June 27th over 60 Vermonters, including farmworker leaders, allies from the Vermont Worker's Center, Bread and Puppet  and the Global Justice Ecology Project, loaded onto a bus to take the "Not One More Danilo" campaign to the ICE office where Danilo's future will be decided.  We joined a regional day of Action, where undocumented community members from all over New England spoke out about their deportation cases. 

On the way down on the bus Migrant Justice members prepped allies for the day, sharing personal stories of deportations and detentions that haven't been told. “When I live in fear, I am shackled from hands to feet, and it is a very difficult thing”, explained Poncho Calvo whose cousins are facing deportation after being detained in Franklin County. "Migrant Justice has helped me leave this fear behind to fight together for our rights."

Migrant Justice and our allies joined in a dialogue over lunch with members from immigrant rights groups from across the region, hearing first hand accounts of folks facing deportation and sharing strategies to fight back. 

After lunch, Migrant Justice led a march spilling out into the streets and descending on the ICE office to the beat of the Bread and Puppet marching band. We were welcomed with cheers from regional partners. Danilo later addressed the crowd of over 200 in the pouring rain, “This is more than just fighting my deportation; this is about setting an example that we can come together with the national movement to end deportations and fight for our rights”. Other speakers like Ugandan Jerry Ssebugwawo, held his two children in his hands explaining his deportation date comes in a month despite having lived here for 22 years and being diagnosed with a form of TB that is hard to treat in Uganda. Alma Barrios addressed the crowd, falling to her knees weeping and pleading to ICE on behalf of her brother, Justo Rufino Barrios Morales, who is currently detained at Strafford Detention facility in New Hampshire.

This was a historic day. The folks with the most to lose took their stories directly to the front lines and decision-makers--standing united together on multiple deportation cases as one movement.  All of this took place on the day that the Senate passed a new immigration reform proposal that does provide a long, windy and difficult path to citizenship for many millions but also promotes an unprecedented border militarization and criminalization program that is sure to create many more Danilo's, Jerry's and Justo's. 

For this reason, we leave you with words that have become a part of every Migrant Justice meeting from members who have lived this reality:    "United we are strong."

Regardless of what happens in Washington, we need to re-double our efforts to build  communities in Vermont where Human Rights are upheld. A sober reminder came in just yesterday on our worker's rights hotline.  For the second time in a month the Franklin County Sheriff stopped a car for a traffic related inquiry, and upon seeing brown people inside, he asked for ID from passengers and then turned them over to Border Patrol.  Now, Ricardo and David, two migrant workers, who are guilty of going to the store for food, are in jail in St. Albans awaiting a future immigration court hearing.

Our immigration system is broken but a militarized border is no solution for the unjust economic, trade and agricutlural systems that will continue to uproot and displace the many while enriching the few.

For recent media coverage of "Not One More Danilo" campaign go here: 

http://www.wunitv.com/2013/06/27/protestas-contra-ice/

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130701/NEWS02/306300031

http://www.wptz.com/news/vermont-new-york/burlington/immigration-activis...

Dozens of Stop Danilo's Deportation Videos Pour in. Check 'em out.  Add your voice!

• Watch dozens of video responses from friends and community members sharing their Danilo story here.

• Record, upload and share your own video response by following the guide or call/email us and we will walk you through it! When you share the video be sure to share it with your friends and family calling upon them to signt the petition, make the call and spread the word!

In Solidarity,

Migrant Justice