AMERICAN CHILDREN CALL TO SENATOR SCHUMER:
Save our Immigrant Parents, Fix the Broken Deportation System

April 26 NYC – This Saturday at noon, American-born children whose parents face lifelong exile rallied before Senator Charles Schumer’s offices at 757 Third Avenue (Manhattan) to demand that he support his constituents by introducing the Child Citizen Protection Act (CCPA) in the Senate. They held homemade posters reading: “Deportation = America’s cruelest civil proceeding” and “ICE: Don’t Take Away My Mommy.”

Elijah Salmon, an 11-year-old youth leader from Families for Freedom, explained to the crowd: “It’s not easy, knowing your father can be deported at any time. My father has been here for me and my family from the day I was born. He has been a positive influence in my life and has encouraged me to achieve and do well in everything I do. I love my father strongly and it is my right to have him here.” Standing beside him was his big sister Nyasia. Both born in Brooklyn, their father faces deportation to Jamaica.

An event emcee, Rose Huitzil, instructed the audience, “Get your cell phones out, everyone. It’s a Saturday, so we have free minutes. We are going call Senator Schumer right here and leave him a clear message.” A New York City public school student whose father faces deportation to Mexico, she began testifying publicly about ICE raids months ago.

Standing with the youth were faith leaders, politicians and parents like Betsy Dewitt, Campaign Coordinator for Families for Freedom. A single mother after her husband’s deportation to Italy, DeWitt told the cameras: “The Child Citizen Protection Act (HR 1176) is the best kept secret in the immigration debate. Regular people have worked tirelessly to tell our elected leaders what we need. Last month our City Council listened. Today we need Schumer to get on board.”

The Child Citizen Protection Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Congressman Jose Serrano and has over 30 sponsors there. In March, the New York City Council passed through a near-unanimous voice vote a resolution in support of the bill. The bill would not remove anyone from the deportation rolls. It would simply give immigration judges the authority to consider the best interest of an American-born child before deporting an immigrant parent, so long as the immigrant is not deportable for security reasons or has not engaged in sex trafficking.

Councilman Kendall Stewart, chair of the Immigration Committee and a native of St. Vincent, urged lawmakers to be practical: “How can we say we stand for family values when we have laws that literally tear families apart? These children need positive role models, a stable home and loving advocates to guide them in life. They are the future of our state and our nation.”

Councilman John Liu, the first and currently the only Asian Pacific American to be elected in New York City, stated: "Countless families are literally being torn apart by often dehumanizing immigration laws and procedures.  The Child Citizen Protection Act allows the process to include humane consideration for the children's welfare during deportation proceedings, particularly when the children are US citizens.  It's imperative that we as a nation live up to our family values and not take actions that, in the end, harm children more than anybody else."

In the last decade, over 2 million people have been deported. Nationwide 15% of families are mixed status in which at least one parent is a non-citizen and one child a citizen. In New York, where a third of city residents are immigrants, the deportation system has been devastating. Whereas before families confronted this system in silence, today there is a growing call for change. Most immigrants are separated from their families without a real day in court. Homeland Security has raided homes, worksites and prisons, uprooting long-term residents and leaving children stranded at daycare.

Rally participants ended in a prayer led by Reverend Dr. Donna Schaper and Father Juan Carlos Ruiz, leaders of the New Sanctuary Movement in New York. The message of these faith leaders: “We are not ashamed. We are morally outraged.”

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WHEN: Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 12pm  

WHERE: 
Senator Schumer’s Office Building 
757 Third Avenue (at 47th Street), New York NY 
Trains: 4,5,6,7,S to Grand Central 42nd St 
 
WHO: 
Children Made in the USA, whose parents face deportation. Parents struggling to keep their families together. Political and faith leaders.  Speakers include: 

* Nyasia Fulton & Rose Huitzil - Youth Organizers, Families for Freedom 
* John Liu, NYC Council member 
* Juan Carlos Ruiz, Organizer, New Sanctuary Movement 
* Las Hermanas Coloradas (performance) 
* Betsy DeWitt, Campaign Chair, Families for Freedom