Erik Cortez-Sandeniz (A# 096-116-570) came to the United States from Mexico when he was nine years old. This is a letter from his oldest son, also named Erik. “My father grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Central High School. He dropped out of high school to work and provide for his family at the age of seventeen. Since then, he has been the head of our household and has dedicated his life to taking care of his children and wife. He is now thirty-six years old and is in detention. My father grew up in a neighborhood filled with gangs. Like many other young people in his community, he became involved with the gang because that was what he knew. Despite his gang affiliation, he started working at the age of thirteen to provide for his family. One of his first jobs was helping in a local church. This country has been the only place my father has known. His whole family is here including his three U.S citizen sisters and U.S citizen mother and U.S permanent resident father, numerous of aunts and uncles and cousins, but most importantly he has his five U.S citizen children. I am his oldest son and I am nineteen years old. I just recently finished my first year at Brandeis University on a scholarship. His second oldest was recently accepted to Mass Maritime on a scholarship. Before being detained, my father saw his second son graduate high school but if he is deported he won’t see the rest of his children complete this important milestone. Two of his other children are in high school and his youngest just finished the 5th grade. He has been with my mother, his wife, for 20 years. If he does go back to Mexico, there's a possibility that he will be killed by rival gangs. He made mistakes, but I truly believe he has learned from them and moved on. He instilled in us the value of education that he learned from his experiences. My father grew up in circumstances that did not allow him to get an education, but he made sure that did not happen to us. He has two felony charges: one occurred when he was very young for leaving the scene of a car accident and the second for selling a gun to someone he thought was a friend and explained he needed a gun because his family was being threatened and was in danger. My father has provided and raised a wonderful family.” Please sign and ask ERO Assistant Field Office Director Todd Thurlow and DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Esther Olavarria to release Erik from detention so that he can fight his case from home with his family.

Donald Trump must be made to atone for his racist comments of the past week.

It is important that the North Carolina-based Ku Klux Klan should not be allowed to rally at the State House on July 18, 2015, in Columbia, SC, because they represent racism and hate towards Africa America. They are known for killing African-American and burning down black churches. Their presence is negative energy and the people of Columbia SC already going through enough hate and racism as it is. After the hate crime that took nine African Americas lives at a church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, six historical African America churches had been set on fire in the past two weeks. A couple of people have already been arrested at the Statehouse. A rally at this time is a bad idea. People should support this petition because this rally will follow our state for years to come, and we as a state should not want to be connected to a gang as hateful as the KKK. We are afraid for our safety also the well-being of the historical African Americans churches we have here in the city of Columbia. This will make a big different in our state because they are not wanted here. By not allowing the Ku Klux Klan to come to our state and rally will keep some of the gangs and Black Panthers that are also planning to show up on the 18 of July away. It will also allow the people of Columbia SC time to grieve and heal from all the tragedies that have taken place in the last month.

I've been to heaven and I had to do everyone's dishes because that's all I could get the job for. We need more people to not go to heaven or hell, we need a neutrality where we don't have to serve an all powerful lord. I.E. IRS.

Donald Trump's bigoted statements about immigrants are not consistent with the values espoused by the United States Golf Association. Mr. Trump has stated that the major golf associations agree with him. Show him that bigotry and golf are not good playing partners. Cancel your tournaments at his golf courses.

Pennsylvania Republican legislators have voted repeatedly to force people to present identification cards, ostensibly to prevent non-existent voter fraud. Finally, real examples of voter fraud have been uncovered. According to the Associated Press (July 2, 2015): "Leaders of Pennsylvania's House Republican majority are being recorded as "yes" votes on a key budget-related schools bill, even though they weren't in the House chamber for the vote. "A House GOP spokesman said Wednesday that precedent allows representatives to vote, even if they're absent to deal with legislative business. "At the time of Tuesday night's vote, House Speaker Mike Turzai, Majority Leader Dave Reed and Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph were at a news conference in the Capitol, along with at least eight other GOP representatives whose votes were recorded." At least 11 PA Republican State Representatives committed this voter fraud in clear violation of their own rules, which state: "No member shall be permitted to vote and have his or her vote recorded on the roll unless present in the hall of the House during the roll call vote." Please sign our petition demanding an end to this blatant case of voter fraud. We demand that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives enforce its own rules against voter fraud. If a Member is not present s/he should not be able to cast a vote. This fraud must stop.

I see too many people who I know are registered sex offenders using the Internet to con their way into people's lives and into state jobs they have no business trying to get. Sex offenders are not waiting in in dark alleys anymore; they are using the Internet, and especially Facebook to prey on the weak. They are not stopping, and they are not show in any signs of slowing there habits down. Keeping them off iphones and computers will make the world safer from them. As a father myself I would rather my kids not have to watch out for that. Also, make it illegal for them to own video games, iphones anything with the Internet and make it illegal for anyone who lives with a sex offender to have Internet access. Motivate the public to be scared of committing sex offenses.

The Latino/Hispanic community are outraged in reference to the disparaging comments Donald Trump made about Mexican immigrants being rapists and criminals. Conflating a vital and important group of Americans possessing a tremendous retail buying power is intolerable and bad business policy for any retail company. We are asking QVC not to partake in any business dealings with a bigot who seeks division with hateful rhetoric based on fiction and superficialities!

I have found recent comments by Donald Trump conflict with my views and values as a U.S. Citizen. As someone who is 4th generation Mexian-American, I feel it is time to speak up and speak out against racist remarks about a valued trade partner, it's people and society, and our next door neighbor.

The petition is being created because the KKK has always been known as a hate group in America. Allowing them to rally for an object that imposes hate to a race and region in the country should not be allowed.

For over 30 years, wages in America have remained stagnant while productivity has increased and corporate profits have reached all-time highs. In order for more of those corporate profits to reach the pockets of workers, not just the wealthy few, we need updated rules governing worker protections such as overtime pay and the minimum wage. In 1975, the overtime threshold covered over 60 percent of salaried workers. Today, only 8 percent are covered. Raising the salary threshold—below which all workers are guaranteed overtime pay—to $50,440 would raise the share of salaried workers covered significantly. Earlier this year, EPI members delivered thousands of petition signatures urging the Department of Labor to increase the overtime salary threshold, and thanks to you we’re almost there. The Department of Labor has opened a 60-day comment period and needs to hear from you! Big Business is once again opposing common sense approaches to raising workers’ wages. It is demonizing this new rule and misrepresenting how it will positively impact the lives of workers and their families. Millions of workers need our help! Tell the Department of Labor that we stand with them as they work to complete work on these new rules, which will Raise America’s Pay.

Michigan is one of only a handful of states that locks up juvenile offenders under the age of 18 alongside the adult prison population, often for non-violent offenses. A recent investigation by the Huffington Post found a system rife with abuse and horrific treatment of children by guards and fellow inmates throughout Michigan. They found instances of children as young as 16 forced to share cells with adults where they were repeatedly subjected to sexual abuse. Or corrections officers, totally untrained in dealing with adolescents, forcibly restraining teens on slabs of concretes for days at a time. And a penal system, all the way from the county prosecutor to the attorney general, stacked against the poor and young people of color. Here's how Huffington Post Editor Ryan Grim summarized the shocking abuses: "The overincarceration of people in American society has reached pathological levels, but for the same treatment to be meted out to children demands immediate intervention. Liberals, conservatives and libertarians are all coming together to call for comprehensive criminal justice reform, and the movement's progress is impressive and hopeful. But there is a long way to go, and these kids can't wait." The findings of this investigation are a national disgrace and Michigan lawmakers should move quickly to end these abuses. A civilized society doesn't put children in prison with adults. http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/cruel-and-all-too-usual/