There’s no time to even write this blog post — Jose Adan Fugon-Cano and Gustavo Barahona-Sanchez need your help immediately!
They could be deported any second. They ended up in immigration custody after being racially profiled by local police in Louisiana. DHS’ own civil rights office questioned the basis for their arrest by local police. After internal memos were released, the Los Angeles Times reported:
“The only basis for the arrest seems to have been to give Border Patrol an opportunity to run an immigration investigation. This is not a practice the department wishes to endorse or facilitate.”
The memo went to ICE Director Sarah Saldana and other officials, but they ignored it. It’s outrageous that ICE would continue to work hand-in-glove with local police that racially profile our community! Agents of the Administration should not be helping local police violate the constitution—they should take a strong stand to protect our civil rights!
New Orleans Congress of Day Laborers and #Not1More are leading on these cases. They just put out an alert, which you should act on:
Take action right now, by calling ICE Headquarters, at 202-407-5142.
Suggested script: “My name is ______. I am calling about the two workers who are being detained by the New Orleans ICE office, despite being racially profiled, and despite a recommendation from the DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties office to stop pursuing their deportation. They should be released and ICE should cooperate with a larger investigation into these unconstitutional arrests. Will your office consider use of prosecutorial discretion to release these two workers given the severe civil rights concerns?”*Please make a call to make sure that DHS does not collaborate with police that racially profile, and to stop these worker’s deportation. [ http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/portfolio/civilrights/ ]
If these men are deported, their lives will be ruined. The LA Times reports that Gustavo is the father of two U.S. Citizen children, and his brother was a victim of the violence in Honduras. His sister worries that she could lose yet another brother if this deportation is carried out.
Take action immediately! Gustavo and Jose—and their families—need you. We must stand for these community leaders and against racial profiling and unconstitutional policing.
After you call, we also need you to sign this petition: http://www.
notonemoredeportation.com/ portfolio/civilrights/. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help save these men, and uphold the Constitution.
