Blog
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Surviving the Tornado and Deportations in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
August 20, 2012
Trini Garcia has been living in Alabama for 15 years, she is part of the organization Somos Tuskaloosa. She is one of the people who came out of the shadows and talked about her story publicly at the rally on August 20, 2012 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This is her story.
We are tired and we have lost fear. It has taken me years to lose it though because it is a fear that paralyzes you. I clearly remember the moment when I heard that HB 56 was going to be implemented about a year ago. It was a moment of panic, a difficult moment. We were not going to be able to get car plates, transactions with the state. Nothing.
The tornados in 2011 and the change in the law came at the same time. They both impacted our community, they both caused fear, they both separated families, they both affected the stability of our children in school. The tornado and the law caused our community to have nightmares and traumas, some visible and some invisible.
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Ganando el derecho de hablar por nosotros mismos: Winning the Right to Speak for Ourselves
August 20, 2012
The US Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing in Alabama on the impact of state-based immigration laws. They invited the author of SB1070 and the sponsor of Alabama's hate law.
Kris Kobach can't testify about the impact of immigration laws. Undocumented people can. Riders from No Papers No Fear interrupted his speech until they were escorted out. We came back stronger and demanded we be included. By not backing down, we won our inclusion for the day.
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Si No Nos Invitan, Nos Invitamos Solos: No Papers No Fear Protest in Alabama
August 20, 2012
The US Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing in Alabama on the impact of state-based immigration laws. They invited the author of SB1070 and the sponsor of Alabama's hate law.
Kris Kobach can't testify about the impact of immigration laws. Undocumented people can. Riders from No Papers No Fear interrupted his speech until they were escorted out.
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Maria Huerta: trabajadora de hogar. Making the Invisible Visible
August 20, 2012
Maria Huerta es una trabajadora de hogar de la organización Mujeres Unidas y Activas en California, participando en la jornada por la justicia para hacer visible la humanidad de los trabajadores migrantes quienes están en el país exigiendo sus derechos.
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Maria Huerta is a domestic worker from Mujeres Unidas y Activas en California participating in the No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice to make visible migrants workers struggling to assert their rights in this country. -
They pushed us out. We came back stronger. They let us in.
August 19, 2012
As we began the early morning drive to Alabama from Tennessee, we all felt nervous. This was our first action in Alabama, the only state to have harsher laws than Arizona. Knowing that people with power were inside, we thought that maybe we had a big chance to get arrested. When we do actions in Arizona, we have a lot of community behind us. Here, we thought it would not be the same.
As we crossed the state border into Alabama we saw the photo of Gerardo from the morning action, where he and three other of our fellow riders interrupted Kris Kobach's testimony, and it gave us energy to follow through with our plans. We got off the bus – la luna, which we had converted in to a Department of Homeland Security vehicle and began our skit:
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Fearless and Speaking for Ourselves
August 18, 2012
Yesterday was one of the most important days of my life. It gave me the opportunity to speak to the people who are directly hurting our community. I, and three of my fellow No Papers No Fear riders - Mari Cruz Jimenez, Maria Huerta, and Jose Mangandi - stood up during the testimony of Kris Kobach, the author of SB 1070, while he was addressing the United States Commission on Civil Rights, testifying on the effects of state immigration laws. He was sitting at the table like an expert, when we know there is no one who knows the effects of immigration laws in our communities better than undocumented immigrants. We had not been included as part of the group to testify, so we stood up, uninvited, and told our stories.
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Eleazar: Para abrir las puertas que le han sido cerradas
August 18, 2012
Eleazar Castellanos es padre jornalero de Arizona quien subió a la jornada de la justicia porque juntos podemos lograr algo mejor por nosotros y nuestros hijos. Después de ver que su hija no podría seguir estudiando en la universidad y después de perder su propio trabajo por las leyes de Arizona, decidió hacer algo mas para abrir las puertas que le han sido cerradas.
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Eleazar is a father and day laborer who is on the No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice because together we can accomplish something larger. After seeing his daughter unable to continue her studies and after losing his own job because of the laws in Arizona, he decided to be part of the journey to open the doors that have become closed to him and his community. -
Chela: For the Undocumented, Freedom is not Free
August 18, 2012
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'No papers, no fear': immigrants declare on bus tour - NBCNews.com
August 17, 2012
Bob Miller / for NBC News
Maria Cruz Ramirez, 46, awaits her turn to speak at a press conference near the Nashville Public Library on Thursday. Ramirez came to the U.S. in 2001 with her three children, and they overstayed their Visas.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- They are in the United States illegally, and they are tired of hiding.
Over the past few weeks, a group of nearly 40 housekeepers, day laborers, students and immigration activists has been making its way across the country in a ragtag caravan, chanting “no papers, no fear” and proudly declaring “I’m undocumented” in public gatherings.
The riders are not legally in the U.S., a point they want everyone they meet to know. They are on the bus tour, dubbed the “undocubus,” to highlight their plight and to challenge their anti-immigrant foes in the ongoing national debate on immigration.
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Juan Jose Mangandi: Our Best Kept Secret is Our Own Community's Strength
August 17, 2012
Juan Jose Mangandi is an artist and playwright who works as a day laborer in California. He joined the no papers no fear ride for justice to confront rejection and inspire pride within the migrant community.Juan Jose Mangandi es un artista, escritor de teatro y trabaja como jornalero en California. Participa en la jornada por la justicia para confrontar el desprecio de los migrantes y inspirar orgullo dentro la misma comunidad.Read More » -
In Admiration: Learning about the Civil Rights Movement
August 16, 2012
I had heard about the struggle for civil rights in the 60s but it had never mattered to me. I had not realized that I could learn from the struggle, and that it could apply to the situation that I am in. As an undocumented mother from Arizona, the more that I learn and think about organizing for my community, and what strategies we can use to fight for our rights, the more admiration that I have for the civil rights struggles of the African-American community in the United States, and the more that I want to learn from them.
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As we travel through the southern United States, especially through states that have such a rich history of racism against black communities, I have also realized that these are places also of resistance. -
Yovany Diaz: The Undocubus Gives Me the Strength to be a Humanitarian
August 16, 2012
Yovany Diaz is a member of GUYA, the Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance and is joining the no papers no fear ride for justice for his mom, his community, and to fight for education in a state that has banned undocumented youth from its universities.
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Yovany Diaz, miembro de la alianza de jovenes indocumentados de Georgia se une con la jornada por la justicia por su madre, su comunidad, y para luchar para una educacion en un estado que ha cerrado las puertas de sus universidades a estudiantes indocumentados. -
Deferred Action Goes into Effect -NYTimes
August 16, 2012
At least 1.2 million young undocumented immigrants will be able to apply for a temporary stay of deportation and a work permit beginning today.
This is the enactment of a policy President Obama announced back in June and it applies to younger [undocumented] immigrants with no criminal history who were brought to the country as children.
At the time, President Obama said this new policy was simply the "the right thing to do," but that it also helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement focus on deporting criminals. His opponents said that the president had overstepped his authority by issuing the new policy; they said he had enacted his own so-called DREAM Act without the approval of Congress.
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