Our Fundraiser ends June 16!
Please join me in supporting my dear friends Alirio, Hilda and her son Ivan as they fight their deportation orders.
If deported, Hilda and Alirio would face certain death in their home countries. Ivan would be separated from his loving mother. With their leadership, the Austin Sanctuary Network is fighting our friends' deportation orders whilst they have taken sanctuary at two member congregations in Austin, Texas.
I have known these folks for over a year now, and during that time we have shared many experiences: some joyful, some saddening.
First, the joy: playing soccer with Ivan, dancing with Hilda, enjoying her contagious laugh and smile AND her incredible hair-styling skills, and making carneasada (BBQ) with Alirio...among so so many more.
The sadness: Hilda, Ivan and Alirio have lived in churches for about two years now. Anyone who has been through what they have would feel what they feel...the sadness of not being able to see your family, the pain of confinement from living in a church's walls all the time, the struggle of needing to endlessly push for Congressmen to remember you exist and are worth fighting for, the struggle of living in isolation for your entire life in the US - first incarcerated in detention centers and then going into sanctuary, the powerlessness of not being able to work while stuck in a church, the fear of being detained and deportated to your death.
ICE, the Trump administration and the entire administration system have forced immigrants like Hilda, Alirio and Ivan to suffer unnecessarily and fight for their lives, all for political gain in our racist, anti-black and brown immigrant nation. Our friends deserve freedom, and they have been fighting for what they deserve all along.
After a year of escalating pressure on Congressmen to act and ICE to grant relief from deportation, our campaign won deferred action--5 months of relief from the fear or being detained. This would not have happened had Hilda and Alirio not personally advocated for themselves and put themselves at risk in occupations of Congressmen's offices, where I and others were arrested.
We are at a crossroads and, in order to win more victories, must take this fight to the national level. To do that, we need a full-time organizer who can work closely with Hilda, Alirio and Ivan. Please help my friends win their freedom after a long, long struggle by donating so we can hire an organizer!!
