Reciban mi respetuoso saludo. Les escribo una vez mas para molestarlos, en referencia a la marcha de hoy miercoles 17 de Febrero. Nos encontramos en el Liberty State Park a las 11:00 AM. Si no puedes caminar con nosotros -las 10 millas- puedes hacer otras labores voluntarias durante el recorrido. Te Esperamos.
FINAL PRESS RELEASE
PLEASE HOLD UNTIL FEBRUARY 17 at 9:00 AM
February 12, 2010
CONTACT: Kathy O'Leary , kolearypcnj@gmail.com, 973-610-1684
Shai Goldstein; sgoldstein@njipn.org, 973-621-0031/908-239-6615
PRESS CONFERENCE/VIGIL
Faith Community Holds Pilgrimage to Highlight Immoral Immigration Policy & Detention Practices
Day of Action includes 10-Mile March to from Ellis Island to Elizabeth Detention Center
JERSEY CITY, NJ—Approximately 100 people of faith and immigrant rights advocates from New Jersey will gather at Liberty State Park in front of the foot bridge to Ellis Island on the Christian feast day of Ash Wednesday, February 17 at 11:00 a.m. for a press conference and interfaith prayer service before walking to Elizabeth Detention Center to draw attention to the moral failings of the U.S.'s immigration and detention policies and to call for comprehensive, just, humane immigration reform. They will be joined by affected family members who have a loved one who is currently in immigration detention or who has recently been deported.
The day of action, "Ellis Island is Closed," highlights the differences between our nation's history of welcoming immigrants, symbolized by Ellis Island, and today's harsh realities for immigrants to the U.S. Participants will make a 10-mile pilgrimage to the Elizabeth Detention Center through Jersey City and Newark , stopping along the way at Assumption/All Saints Church, Islamic Center of Jersey City, Temple Beth-El and Grace Community Lutheran Church .
Each "pilgrim" will carry the name of someone who has died in detention, to restore humanity to those whose dignity was denied by our broken system. One hundred participants will march from Liberty State Park to the Elizabeth Detention Center during the course of the day-long event.
WHAT: Press conference, interfaith prayer service, pilgrimage walk to Elizabeth Detention Center , vigil
WHEN: February 17th, 11:00 a.m. (press conference and interfaith prayer service); walk ends at Elizabeth Detention Center at IRATE & First Friends annual Ash Wednesday prayer vigil at 6:00 p.m.
WHO: 75-100 people of faith, immigrant rights advocates and affected family members.
WHERE: Liberty State Park, in front of Ellis Island foot bridge (press conference and prayer service); Elizabeth Detention Center (end of pilgrimage and site for vigil)
Kathy O'Leary coordinator of Pax Christi NJ and Coordinator of the day's events stated "Today's immigrants are no different from my great-grandparents in that they come here to work and make a better life for their families. However, for them the 'golden door' has been nailed shut. There is no 'line' for unskilled workers."
Charles "Shai" Goldstein, Executive Director, New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, explained "The immigrants of Ellis Island fueled the industrial revolution and provided the basis for future economic prosperity. Today's immigrants are the driving engine of small business and are the most important resource for economic recovery and future economic growth."
Wednesday's program will also underscore the inhumanity, inefficiency and costliness of our detention and deportation system, whose size, scope and purpose organizers assert is unprecedented in our nation's history. The event's organizers say it is badly in need of both oversight and an overhaul which includes community based alternatives to detention and judicial discretion in the deportation of people with family ties to the United States .
"Immigration detention and deportation have turned my family upside down", said Mr. Cisse, a resident of NJ and a client of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Immigrant Rights Program. "After 23 years in this country I am left with no unified family, no right to work, my wife deported, and my three U.S. born children are living in three different places. All I ask is that I be able to work to support my family and keep them together."
Beginning on Tuesday, as a coordinated part of the event, the network of immigrant rights advocacy and faith based groups in New Jersey who are working on comprehensive immigration reform will also hold a call-in to key NJ congressional Representatives, calling for humane immigration reform this year.
"We need to change the current detention and deportation system, and treat immigrants who have no way of legalizing their status, with rights and dignity," said Chia-Chia Wang civic participation leader with the American Friends Service Committee.
The pilgrimage is a follow up action to September 15, 2009 "We Are One Human Family" statewide vigils which took place at 11 locations in ten communities across New Jersey . It is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Immigrant Rights Program Newark; Casa Esperanza; Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast; Highland Park Reformed Church, International Institute of NJ; IRATE & First Friends, Ironbound Community Corp; Jornaleros Unidos of Passaic; Justice Office of Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic; Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry – NJ; Middlesex County Coalition for Immigrant Rights; National Association of Social Workers – NJ Chapter; NJ Forum for Human Rights; New Jersey Immigration Policy Network (NJIPN); Pax Christi NJ; People's Organization for Progress – Bergen County Branch; St. Joseph's Social Service Center; St. Patrick's/Assumption/All Saints Church; Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia; Wind of the Spirit
The event is part of a new nationwide mobilization of people of faith for immigration reform called "Together, not Torn: Families Can't Wait for Immigration Reform," which includes 100 local events over the next month in states across the country, sponsored by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Justice for Immigrants Campaign, and We Were Strangers, Too: The Jewish Campaign for Immigration Reform.
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