WHO?
The Waco Immigrants Alliance, in partnership with local artists, faith leaders, and members of the Greater Waco community.
WHAT?
We will gather to celebrate the richness and diversity that our immigrant brothers and sister bring to our great city, and proclaim peace and family unity in this time of divisive rhetoric and fear-inciting misinformation. On this Father's Day weekend,e will honor the hardworking, loving fathers who give all and risk all for their families, and remember those who have been torn away from their children and loved ones due to cruel "zero tolerance" policy and unnecessary enforcement operations here in our own town that are terrorizing our local community members.
** We will also be joined by several directly impacted families who will give testimony of how this has impacted their lives.
We stand alongside with our immigrant friends, neighbors, and siblings in love, solidarity, and power.
WHEN?
June 15, 11am-12pm
WHERE?
Heritage Square, Austin Ave. & 4th St.
WHY RALLY FOR #FAMILIESBELONGTOGETHER?
-Thousands of immigrant children have reported sexual abuse inside of the for-profit child detention camps. (www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/immigrant-children-sexual-abuse.html)
-It could take years to reunite the thousands of immigrant families who are traumatized and are still separated by the "zero-tolerance" policy. (www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/us/family-separation-trump-administration.html)
-Hundreds of families are still being unnecessarily separated at the border, after we've already seen the US's inability to reunite them in a timely manner and protect children from harm. (www.vox.com/2019/2/21/18234767/parents-separated-children-families-border-trump-jails)
-Immigrant justice workers along the southern border have witnessed the blocking and closure of the legal ports of entry, ultimately barring asylum seekers from the Constitutionally protected legal right to applying for asylum. (www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/border-agents-turning-away-blocking-people-seeking-asylum-report-n754416)
-On April 3, 2019, in the city of Allen, Texas, over 280 families were devastated by ICE raids at a local technology business. (www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/us/texas-immigration-raid.html)
-Daily in McLennan County, mothers and fathers are separated from their children and grandchildren for non-violent and civil immigration offenses for as long as several years. These individuals are awaiting trial in a dangerous facility run by LaSalle Corrections, a for profit prison company with a reputation for egregious human rights abuse. The Jack Harwell Detention Center has failed 3 inspections in 7 months (one triggered after a death in October 2018). (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wacotrib.com/news/mclennan_county/jack-harwell-jail-fails-rd-state-inspection-in-months/article_a85c5bfa-b211-581f-b2d1-60afeb3f6a61.amp.html)
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For these reasons and more, we are uniting as one Waco family to say, once again, that "Families Belong Together!" This must be our priority.
We continue to call on our Congressman Bill Flores to lead this cause in Washington, working to create a comprehensive immigration reform plan rather than spend resources on traumatizing children and destroying families- the fabric of our nation!
We can, and must, do better.
#wacowelcomesall #wacowelcomesimmigrants #bettertogether #wacoiswonderfull #familiesbelongtogether
https://www.facebook.com/events/404568853430911/
