Close the Camps, Stop the Deportations, Abolish ICE
Don’t let the horror of what’s happening in our country paralyze you. The situation is not new (see the History of Concentration Camps in the US) but because there is heightened awareness, we are in a moment of possible change. Below are things that you can do to help with the humanitarian crisis created by inhumane immigration policies. This is not a time to sit back. Please do at least one of these suggestions.
Donate Money
- Migrant Justice, our statewide organizing group for immigrant farmworkers in Vermont.
- American Civil Liberties Union is focusing on defending the rights of immigrant families
- The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is a non-profit focused on “providing free and low-cost legal services to under-served immigrant children, families and refugees in Central and South Texas
- Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) is “helping families at the US border get legal advice and translation services,” and is interviewing families to document what is happening to ensure they are reunited as quickly as possible.
- The Florence Project provides free legal services to detained immigrants in Arizona.
- Project Corazon Travel Fund to send more lawyers (particularly Spanish-speaking immigration lawyers) to the detention centers and refugee camps where help is desperately needed.
Donate Your Frequent Flier Miles
Asylum Seeker Sponsorship
All asylum-seekers must have an individual named sponsor in order to secure release. To learn more about sponsoring asylum seekers to help them see the Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project.
- National Coalition to Close the Concentration Camps is planning a weekend of action all across the country over Indigenous People’s Day weekend.
- Follow HIAS, a refugee protection organization
Educate Yourself
- Monday September 23, 6:00 Organizing meeting for Oct 20 Protest, Peace & Justice Center, 60 Lake St, Bulrington
- Monday September 23, 6:00, Community Voices for Immigrants Rights (CVIR) Education working group, Peace & Justice Center, 60 Lake St, Burlington
- Tuesday September 24, 5:30-6:30, CVIR Steering Committee Meeting, Rights and Democracy Office. All are welcome
- September 24, 7:00, Mobile Checkpoint Rapid Response training in Burlington. Outright VT office, 241 No Winooski Ave, Burlington
- September 25, 4-5:00, Join 350VT’s protest of the lobbying firm Maclean, Meehan, and Rice (MMR, LLC) in Montpelier. MMR works for CorpsCivic (who owns private prisons) and all sorts of atrocious businesses. Come stand with our banner and join the event. Or get more involved by contacting [email protected]
- September 26, 7-9:00, Undeterred film screening at the Starksboro Public Library
- Saturday September 28, Chittenden No Mas Polimigra working group. Time TBD (likely 9:00 or 10:00 AM), Rights and Democracy Office
- Thursday October 3, 12-2, ¡Celebración de 2 Años de Leche Con Dignidad y Lanzamiento! Leddy Park, celebration of two years of Milk with Dignity and the launch of its new campaign. An art making party will take place September 27 from 3-7 p.m. at the Migrant Justice office, 179 S. Winooski Ave.
- Saturday October 20 at noon. Protest at the ICE facility in Williston. The goals are to pressure the state legislature and Congress, educate re ICE, highlight Polimigra issues, and involve more people and organizations. Details pending. SAVE THE DATE!
Call Senator Leahy
Tell him “Not one more dollar for the camps!” 802-863-2525 or 800-624-3193. Leahy voted in favor of the funding bill that was supposed to have restriction on how it could be spent. Those restrictions have already (and not surprisingly) been disregarded. (See article by Noah Lanard.)
Jam the Lines
Did you know that people across the world can report suspicious activity to ICE and Homeland Security? ICE invites people to report “suspicious criminal activity” to the tip line. This ‘tip line’ is located in Williston, Vermont. Anyone can report to ICE based on suspicion. This tactic utilizes racial profiling and cultivates an environment of fear. We need as many people as possible to call the tip line for as long as possible to keep real “tips” from going through.
CALL: 866 DHS-2ICE. Here are some things you can say to the operator:
- Report seeing a racist orange cretin lurking about the White House
- Report terrorist behavior; that children are being kidnapped from their parent’s arms
- Report the breaking of the 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees
- Tell a long slow story
- Recite the alphabet
- Sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
- Chant: Love, not hate, makes America great!
- Call multiple times
Share this info far and wide. People report suspicious activity from around the globe, so you don’t have to be in Vermont to jam the line!
