RIGHTS GROUPS hold Vigil to support immigrants’ right to travel

The press release issued by AFSC Immigrants Rights Program:

RIGHTS GROUPS hold Vigil to support immigrants’ right to travel

Immigrant rights groups recognize that arrests and detentions of immigrants resulting from Amtrak and Greyhound’s cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security leads to devastation of families and communities.

What: Vigil to Support Immigrants’ Right to Travel

Who: Interfaith Coalition for the Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families and others*

When: Good Friday, April 10th 2009, 1pm to 3pm

Where: Newark Penn Station (Corner of Raymond Plaza West & Market Street), NJ

April 9, 2009 – Immigrant rights groups will lead a Good Friday vigil at Newark’s Pennsylvania Station to raise awareness of the impact of immigration raids on Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses. They will call upon the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the raids.

Immigration raids are conducted on Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses within 100 miles of the U.S. border. People traveling through upstate New York to visit family or friends have been taken off of public transportation, arrested, and detained at county jails far from their loved ones or any access to attorneys. Amtrak and Greyhound have failed to inform passengers that if they do not carry immigration documents they run the risk of arrest and detention, while DHS uses racial profiling to target immigrants. These arrests have led to separation and hardship for the family members and communities of the individuals arrested and have frightened other passengers on the trains and buses who witness the arrests.

This event, organized by The Interfaith Coalition for the Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families, will include participation from sponsoring organizations* (listed below) and concerned citizens. The program will include interfaith prayers, testimonies of affected individuals and comments from lawyers of the American Civil Liberty Union of New Jersey and American Friends Service Committee.

This event is part of the National Week of Action April 8-15, 2009, an initiative of the Rights Working Group and Detention Watch Network to demand fundamental reform of current immigration policy to ensure that due process and human rights of all people are protected. Dozens of other public and private events such as this one will take place during the week of April 8-15 across the country. In New Jersey, several visits to federal legislators have been scheduled. Advocates will also receive a tour of Middlesex County Jail where immigrant detainees are being held and a recent immigrant death occurred.

*Action 21, American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program, Amnesty International, Casa de Esperanza, Casa Freehold, Detention Watch Network, Families For Freedom, First Friends Middlesex County, Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast, Interfaith Coalition for The Rights of Immigration Detainees and their Families, IRATE & First Friends, The Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs, NJ Association on Corrections, NJ Forum For Human Rights, NJ Immigration Policy Network, NY Immigration Coalition, Pax Christi NJ, Rights Working Group, St. Joseph’s Social Center, Sisters of St. Joseph ESL, Wind of the Spirit