The following is a press release from the #Not1More campaign:
Seven undocumented Alabama residents and supporters locked themselves together to block the entrance of the Etowah County Detention Center as part of the national #Not1more campaign demanding that the President use his executive authority to stop deportations. The blockade is currently taking place at 827 Forrest Ave, Gadsden, AL 35901.
The Etowah County Detention Center is part of the largest immigrant detention infrastructure in the world and today, the U.S. government locks up and deports more immigrants than ever before. As Congress stalls on immigration reform, Alabama families and families across the country continue to pay the price.
The Obama Administration has been deporting immigrants at a rate of over 1,000 a day, and is set to make history in the coming days when it hits the 2 million mark on deportations. Two million is too many.
Those participating in the action are members of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice and believe that the President has the legal authority, moral obligation, and political imperative to stop separating families by taking administrative action.
Since the 2011 passage of HB56, the harshest anti-immigrant law in the nation, immigrants in Alabama have organized their communities around the state to defend their families against deportation. To follow their work, and learn more about the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or at www.acij.net
Entrance of Etowah County Detention Center blocked #2million2many #not1more #alabamaunafraid pic.twitter.com/fpW8rpmHh9
— Dana | دانة (@danaalfarhan) March 24, 2014
the people, united, will never be defeated! #not1more#AlabamaUnafraidpic.twitter.com/l167MHX4u2
— ACIJ (@ALimmigrant) March 24, 2014