This petition is jointly organized by Sanctuary DMV, the DMV Sanctuary Congregation Network, and LA RED/Faith in Action. Prince Gbohoutou of New Carrollton, MD is an asylum seeker from the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) who has been living in the U.S. for the past 12 years since he was brought here as a 14-year-old, is DACA-eligible, is married to a U.S. citizen, and has built a career as an artist. Prince was detained by ICE when he voluntarily appeared for his check-in on April 19, with his wife and two Sanctuary DMV accompaniers. On Thursday, May 24, two Baltimore ICE agents - without notifying Prince, his attorney, or his wife - took Prince from the Maryland jail where he was being held to their main office in Baltimore. They placed Prince in five-point shackles and drove him to JFK airport in New York. ICE planned to put him on a 9pm flight to Morocco on the way to the C.A.R. Prince repeatedly expressed his fear of returning to C.A.R., the country from which his deceased father had sought asylum and where his mother had been murdered by government officials. At JFK, the two Baltimore ICE agents who had driven Prince from Maryland called four to five additional agents to forcibly remove Prince from the van and into the airport. ICE agents beat his legs with nightsticks when he did not exit the vehicle. At the plane, Prince again expressed his fear to return to C.A.R. and the flight’s captain told ICE he would not take Prince on his plane. Thanks to Prince’s courageous actions and the captain’s refusal to be complicit in a deportation, Prince remains in the United States for now, where he can pursue his green card application through his United States citizen wife. Upon leaving the airport, ICE officers drove Prince back to Maryland, with one of the officers threatening that he would get no visits and no phone calls as a result of his actions. He was taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center (back in the jurisdiction of the Baltimore ICE field office), where he is being held now. Prince’s wife Shaniece and one of our organizers visited Prince at the jail on May 25, the day after his ordeal at JFK, and witnessed multiple bruises on both shins. Prince said he now has a minor limp as a result of his treatment as well. We’re outraged by the treatment of Prince and are deeply concerned about ICE retaliation against Prince for bravely asserting his fear of return even in the face of imminent deportation. We are requesting Prince’s immediate release, for his assault to be immediately investigated, and for the officers involved and their supervisors to be held accountable. ***** Con atencion a Dorothy Herrera-Niles, Directora de la Oficina de ICE de Baltimore Solicitamos la liberación inmediata del Sr. Prince Gbohoutou de la custodia del ICE. También solicitamos una investigación sobre los eventos del 24 de mayo, cuando oficiales de ICE golpearon al Sr. Gbohoutou mientras lo forzaban a tomar un avión para deportarlo (sin haber notificado a su abogado ni a su esposa). Los oficiales involucrados y sus supervisores deben ser considerados responsables de este abuso físico. Antecedentes: Prince Gbohoutou de New Carrollton, MD es un solicitante de asilo de la República Centroafricana (C.A.R.) que ha vivido en los EE. UU. durante los últimos 12 años desde que fue traído aquí cuando tenía 14 años de edad, es elegible para DACA, esta casado con una ciudadana estadounidense, y ha construido una carrera como artista. Prince fue detenido por ICE cuando se presentó voluntariamente para su registro el 19 de abril, con su esposa y dos acompañantes de Sanctuary DMV. El jueves 24 de mayo, dos agentes de ICE de Baltimore -sin notificar a Prince, su abogado o su esposa- lo sacaron de la cárcel de Maryland donde lo tenían detenido a la oficina principal de Baltimore. Le pusieron grilletes y lo llevaron al aeropuerto JFK en Nueva York. ICE planeó embarcarlo en un vuelo de las 9pm a Marruecos en camino a C.A.R. Prince expresó reiteradamente su temor a regresar a C.A.R., país del cual su padre ya fallecido había solicitado asilo y donde su madre fue asesinada por funcionarios del gobierno. En el aeropuerto JFK, los dos agentes de ICE de Baltimore que habían conducido a Prince desde Maryland llamaron de cuatro a cinco agentes adicionales para sacar a Prince por la fuerza de la furgoneta y llevarlo al aeropuerto. Los agentes de ICE lo golpearon en las piernas al negarse a salir del vehículo. En el avión, Prince nuevamente expresó su temor de regresar a C.A.R. y el capitán del vuelo le dijo a los agentes de ICE que no llevaria a Prince en su avión. Gracias a las valientes acciones de Prince y al rechazo del capitán a ser cómplice de una deportación, ICE se vio obligado a abandonar su intento de deportarlo. Lo condujeron de regreso a Maryland, con uno de los oficiales amenazandolo con no poder recibir visitas ni llamadas telefónicas como resultado de sus acciones. Fue llevado al Centro de Detención para Adultos del Condado de Frederick (de regreso en la jurisdicción de la oficina de campo del Baltimore ICE), donde se encuentra recluido hasta ahora. La esposa de Prince, Shaniece y uno de nuestras organizadoras visitaron a Prince en la cárcel el 25 de mayo, un día después de su calvario en el aeropuerto JFK, y presenciaron múltiples hematomas en ambas espinillas. Prince dijo que ahora también tiene una cojera menor como resultado de este trato. Estamos indignados por el trato a Prince y estamos profundamente preocupados por la represalia de ICE contra Prince por negarse a abordar el avión. Estamos solicitando la liberación inmediata de Prince, que se investigue inmediatamente su agresión y que los oficiales involucrados y sus supervisores rindan cuentas.

This petition is being started because Rep Carlos Curbelo has chosen money and guns over the safety and protection of human beings. We all have the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness

ICE is separating children from their mothers at the border, and have "lost track of" up to 1500 child migrants. The fact that this is happening goes so far beyond the bounds of human decency that it is intolerable to anyone with a shred of morality.

After 14 years, thousands of man-hours and dollars the Red ROC Disc Golf Club successfully built 4 championship disc golf courses at Lemon Lake County Park in NW Indiana. Jay and Deb Svitko conspired to wrest control of this complex from the Red ROC Disc Golf Club in 2013 and they were successful in no small part because we, as a club were exhausted from that effort and successfully hosting 2 World Championships in 3 years. The Svitkos are on a mission to re-write history in their favor and have taken credit for our accomplishments. They do NOT help Grow the Sport and need to be removed. The Red ROC Disc Golf Club started the first course at Lemon Lake (red) in 1998. Over the next 14 years we expanded it to the complex it was in 2013 with a multitude of volunteers herded by Hall of Famer Brian Cummings. We designed all the courses, built the paths, installed tee signs and ran tournaments and leagues there all those years. We paid for built and installed all the benches on the course. We paid for many of the concrete teepads when the parks dept ran out of money and poured them all....96 teepads in 5ish years. Long time club member Jay Svitko and his wife were voted off the worlds steering committee (they were self appointed) in early 2013 (unanimously) but continued to act in that capacity without authorization of the club or the tournament director Brian Cummings. We were always 1 step behind and very frustrated as we were juggling the 2013 Worlds including course prep and the multitude of tasks that go into running an event of that magnitude....our 2nd Pro Worlds in 3 years. Push was coming to shove and angry words were exchanged but as the Worlds was rapidly approaching cooler heads prevailed and for the good of the event we chose to engage in that battle after the worlds. By then it was to late. The 'Flight Center' was supposed to be a club store but suddenly it was Jay and Debs store (this coincided with both of them suddenly being unexpectedly unemployed). The parks manager is mainly interested in the path of least resistence and her immediate superior in the parks dept retired in 2013 as did her boss about a year prior. Brian and the exhausted club took some time away from Lemon Lake after the worlds and the new parks dept folks aligned with Jay and Deb...possession being 9/10ths of the law and the new people at the parks department were only hearing from the Svitkos. They won't allow us to run leagues there (they called the police once when we tried) let alone tournaments. They took over all the tournaments we ran by name and made them there own. They started the Indiana Disc Golf Museum because Indiana disc golfers would not let them have the Indiana Disc Golf Hall of Fame. There should be SOMETHING in the museum for Brian and the club but there isn't. Brian installed his first course in NW Indiana in 1986 and MANY more. Since our ouster from Lemon Lake the RRDGC has continued to grow the sport by installing more courses and continuing to improve the ones already in the ground. Freedom Park in Lowell , Rivers Edge in Munster, Riverside in Hammond, Purdue Calumet in Hammond, LRCA Church Camp in Winfield, Countryside in Portage, and 50 Acre Park in Evergreen Park, IL are some of the courses we've built and developed since 2012. The courses at Lemon Lake are being poorly maintained according to the standards we set as a club. If you played in one of our Worlds (2010 and 2013) and played again in the Masters (2018) you would notice the deterioration. Browse the posts in the petition for some first hand accounts of basic disc golf codes being broken ie: Call the Number on the Disc Before You Put it in Your Used Disc Bin.... When the PDGA awarded Lemon Lake a $5000 grant and the title of 'PDGA Midwest Development Center' in 2015? Brian Cummings was not invited to the ceremony....the architect of the complex. This award went to folks that don't play disc golf, the Svitkos. This is an excerpt from my recent email to the current PDGA Director: Below is a quote from a recent PDGA news letter. I take issue with the untruths propagated in this statement. The heart and soul of Lemon Lake are Brian Cummings and the Red ROC Club members that built it over a 14 year span. Jay and Deb's hostile takeover occurred after and during the 2013 Worlds. They've run about 6 tournaments a year for less than 5 years not 'well over 100 tournaments'. They did NOT run the 2010 Worlds and the 2013 Worlds. If Jay and Deb are your soul source of information than you are being mislead and engaging in shoddy journalism. "US Masters Brings PDGA Major Back To Lemon Lake Lemon Lake County Park and the Lemon Lake Flight Center in Crown Point, Indiana, have seen more than their fair share of high-level PDGA events. In the last decade alone, Jay and Deb Svitko, the heart and soul of the complex, have run well over 100 tournaments, including multiple A-tiers, dozens of B- and C-tiers, and the 2010 and 2013 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships."

Reasons to restore the Watsonville Metro Mural originally designed and painted by "Yermo" Aranda, with the help of the community of Watsonville. By Jaime Sanchez This mural is historical and is part of a visual epic story of our culture presented in the unique language of the artistic vision of a great muralist. Yermo's murals are of the tradition of empowering the people and promoting balance between people and the natural world, including the land itself. The mural is done with excellent storytelling, connecting the history of the land and people with the modern day use of the life-promoting resource of public transportation. More than anything, this mural is about balance between people, animals, and the land. This mural is about safety and good times. It's about correctness. Some murals are designed to be temporary and more of these are needed until a mural with a universal correctness concept can be permanently installed. Some murals are no longer relevant due to our progress towards justice and correctness. Yermo's metro mural is not a temporary mural. It is one of a limited number of murals done by one of the first muralists in Watsonville. There are too many blank walls in the Pajaro Valley to be painting over existing murals. Some murals are destined to be temporary and some come down with demolished buildings, but the metro mural is already there, communicating our ultimate goal: correctness. The concept is already there, designed and coordinated: original art and all. Refurbishing this mural would produce the most constructive result. Restoring this mural would produce the most efficient, cost-effective, time-saving and aesthetically pleasing result possible.

I understand we've had issues with immigration, but listening and reading about mothers and fathers being separated from their children is gut-wrenching and a heartless practice. I sincerely don't recognize our country. It has become a divisive tactic by our President.

I am a kindergarten teacher. This could permanently traumatize the babies and children. This is being used to punish immigrants which is what our country was built on. So sad.

I love my Daughter!

This will help limit corruption by powerful lobbyists who line the pockets of career politicians for favorable outcomes. It will also help prevent lazy elections.

Gilead Science's ad for Harvoni shows people releasing sky lanterns up into the night sky. These and released balloons cause great harm to wildlife and domestic animals. The sky lanterns can also start wildfires and structure fires. People see these ads and are inspired to do their own releases of harmful trash that will always come down and become an issue. We need your help, so I respectfully request that you stop showing this or any advertisement that glorifies practices that destroy innocent lives and litter our earth.

California’s current bail system is punishing families and communities. Most Californians cannot afford to post bail and so must either stay in jail or pay substantial nonrefundable fees to a bail bond company. These fees are not refunded under any circumstances – even if the court finds that a person is innocent or was wrongfully arrested. Over-policing of communities of color results in more arrests, exacting a disproportionate price from these communities. Whole families suffer, as they take on long-term debt to purchase the safety and freedom of a loved one, and women are hit the hardest. According to an Ella Baker Center survey, 83% of family members who take on court-related costs on behalf of loved ones are women. Successful models for reform can be found in Santa Clara County California as well as other states. In Santa Clara County, the pretrial risk assessment tool has saved $33 million in six months by keeping 1,400 defendants out of jail. Pretrial release costs the county just $15-$25/day compared with $204/day for incarceration. In addition to the cost savings, 95% of defendants appear for their court dates, while 99% are not rearrested while released to the community. This is clearly a more equitable and safer option for our community with the additional benefit of long-term financial savings on incarceration. Money saved could potentially be used for education in our communities. Under the California Bail Reform Act, judges will have access to more information than they do now about people coming before them so they can determine, based on the circumstances of the individual case rather than a person’s wealth, who can return home and under what conditions while their case is being resolved. More informed decision-making protects public safety while reducing the number of people kept in jail after arrest.

Dennis Rodman has been an inspiration to private citizens working for peace. His successful outreach to North Korea may have helped prevent war where our government has failed. He stands as an inspiration to other global activists to do the same in promoting peace everywhere.