United We Dream

Campaigns

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  Prioritize the Safety and Health of ALL, Regardless of Immigration Status, in Coronavirus Response

  As the coronavirus continues to spread and cause harm, undocumented families face harsh risks as they seek to care for their loved ones and seek access to health care. Currently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continue to target undocumented people in our community. As a result of fearmongering and misinformation, AAPI individuals in our communities have been harassed, racially profiled, and physically attacked. But now is the time for unity and protection for all our people, regardless of immigration status. We join together to reject xenophobia and racism, which only worsen the effects of the pandemic and put immigrants at harm. Together, we demand that this administration and government at all levels respond swiftly and universally to protect and support everyone, including undocumented immigrants. We know that this is an evolving situation, but time is of the essence. We must take up solutions that center public health needs and that would immediately have a positive impact on immigrants thereby extending to the health of our nation as we pursue a course of action to “flatten the curve.” The following demands are not exhaustive and are likely to expand as we get new information: Please join with us to demand that President Trump: Suspend ALL immigration enforcement activities and operations. DHS must suspend deportations, immigration arrests, mass raids, detentions and enforcement in sensitive locations. Provide Free COVID-19 testing, treatment, and services for ALL, regardless of immigration status. Black, brown, undocumented and low income communities are more vulnerable to health and economic crises. Additional supports and/or stimuli that shore up the safety net and the economic security of those most in need–from food stamps to rent/housing assistance to unemployment insurance to paid leave among others–should be universally accessible without triggering any immigration penalties. Guarantee safe conditions and provide healthcare, testing and support to protect those in detention and prisons. Add your name now to ensure all people, regardless of immigration status, have access to care and support to face the COVID-19 pandemic!

  22,585 of 25,000 Signatures

  Created by Nestor Ruiz
• ICE: Stop the Deportation of a Persecuted Asylum Seeker

  Shixin Lu is a 43-year-old asylum seeker and a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, Yuening Li. She is in danger of being imminently deported back to China, where she is almost certain to be detained and tortured by Chinese authorities solely because of her peaceful religious beliefs. Shixin and her husband, Austin, are practitioners of Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice outlawed in China since 1999. Tens of thousands of practitioners have since been detained and tortured. Shixin and Austin were both victims of this abuse in the early 2000’s, but following their detentions, they concealed their religious beliefs and built successful careers in China. In January 2014, Austin and their daughter traveled to the United States, joined by Shixin a few weeks later. Shixin was forced to return to China in February after receiving news that her father was ill. While in China, Shixin started to receive threats to her family’s well being. In a panic, Shixin returned to the United States, where she was detained in ICE custody before applying for asylum. Her asylum claim was wrongly denied, despite the substantial proof of warnings from Chinese authorities. Shixin has been detained in county jail like a criminal for more than one year in Calhoun County Jail although ICE has power to parole ( release her) as she is neither flight risk nor danger to public and has a legitimate asylum claim. ICE Field office should use proper discretion and free her now while asylum appeal is pending!

  4,683 of 5,000 Signatures

  Created by United We Dream
• Congress: Don't fund Trump's deportation force and the wall

  Do not give in to Trump's hateful, anti-immigrant agenda. Tell Congress to refuse funding for Trump’s border wall and deportation force in any continuing negotiations. On January 25th, the longest Government shutdown in history came to a conclusion after 35 days. The deal that reopened the government formed a committee of Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate to come up with a deal that Trump will be content with. Trump is still demanding 5.7 billion dollars from taxpayers to pay for his border wall and to grow his Deportation Force, despite losing over 30 seats in the House of Representatives as a clear rejection of his policies. That’s why we are asking you to help stop this! In the next week, the committee tasked to come up with a compromise deal needs to hear directly from the public that we reject Trump’s mass deportation agenda and his racist wall. Add your name to hold Congress accountable. Congress should remain focused on funding priorities like education and healthcare and not play into Trump’s demands. Our demand is that they keep the government open and under no circumstance give him any more money to fund more detentions, more deportations, and policies that put more people at risk of deportations and being separated from their families!

  7,994 of 8,000 Signatures

  Created by Greisa Martinez, United We Dream
• Stop the Deportation of My Loving Father

  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.

  58 of 100 Signatures

  Created by United We Dream
• Stop The Deportation of LGBTQ Activist Sulma!

  Sulma did everything she was supposed to (and more!) when she arrived in Austin, Texas six years ago. She began the process of applying for asylum, learned English and applied for work authorization. Years later, she opened up her own food truck business with her partner and applied for all the necessary permits. They had just paid 2 months rent on a space to park the truck when Sulma went in for a routine ICE appointment, something she had been doing every 3 months for years. But this time, rather than signing her name and leaving, ICE told her that her lawyer had not filed some paperwork correctly. With her car still parked outside, and her partner and business waiting for her, she was taken into ICE custody and eventually transferred to Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Thanks to the community, she was released back to her family in Austin, Texas--- but the nightmare is not over as ICE wants to remove her this Thursday!

  2,415 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by United We Dream
• HOUSTON YOUNG IMMIGRANT COULD BE DEPORTED, ACT NOW TO STOP HIS DEPORTATION!

  [Se repite en español abajo] Alejandro Durón came to this country at the age of 15 and has spent half of his life here. Since then, he has taken English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and has excelled at them. He quickly fell in love with his adopted country when opportunities opened up and he was able to obtain a stable job in a restaurant. A natural leader, he quickly was promoted to kitchen manager. His employer would like to sponsor him but Alejandro has a court date on Wednesday, March 19th where he could be deported. Three years ago, Alejandro was pulled over and charged with DWI. A strong believer in God, he has accepted his responsibility and payed all his fines. His faith is reflected through his involvement in his church youth group "Encuentros de Promoción Juvenil (EPJ)" where he is a leader. His dream is to become a US citizen and give back by studying Computer Maintenance and Networking. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alejandro Durón vino a este país a la edad de 15 años y ha vivido la mitad de su vida aqui. El ha tomado clases de inglés como segundo idioma, y ha sobresalido en ellas. Alejandro se enamoró de su país de adopción cuando las oportunidades se abrieron y obtuvo un trabajo estable en un restaurante. Un líder de naturaleza, rápidamente fue ascendido a gerente de cocina. Su empleador le gustaría patrocinarlo pero Alejandro tiene una cita en la corte el Miércoles, 19 de Marzo en la cual podría ser deportado. Hace tres años, Alejandro fue detenido y acusado de DWI. Un firme creyente en Dios, él ha aceptado su responsabilidad y pagado todas sus multas. Su fe se refleja por medio de su involucramiento en su grupo juvenil de la iglesia "Encuentros de Promoción Juvenil (EPJ)" donde él es un líder. Su sueño es convertirse en un ciudadano de los EE.UU. y contribuir más a este país estudiando una carrera en Informática.

  413 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Alejandro Duron
• Veronica, a loving single mom, is being deported for simply taking care of her son!

  In 2010, Veronica's son, Damian, accidentally broke his ankle while in the care of a babysitter. Like any mother would, Veronica immediately took him to the hospital for medical care. The police investigated both Veronica and the babysitter, and the babysitter wrongly accused Veronica of being responsible for the accident. Child Protective Services investigated the situation and found no evidence to press charges against Veronica. But due to the Secure Communities program, which is implemented in her home state of Texas, she was sent to a detention center by ICE anyway. After her family paid a $1,500 bond release, she began a long and arduous struggle to stop her deportation. In desperation, Veronica hired an attorney to defend her case whom she later found out has had his license revoked twice. Although she felt he was not representing her case effectively, her immigration judge denied her the right to hire another attorney. Veronica has lived since 2002 in San Antonio, Texas, where she is a valued member of the community, with strong ties in her church. She works hard as a waitress to provide a better life for her son, who has a speech delay and needs special treatment. Veronica has no criminal history and represents no threat to her community or to this nation. Veronica has received an order of voluntary departure from ICE with a deadline of August 1. If Veronica is forced to leave the country, she will be separated from her whole family and will have to take Damian to a country he doesn't know, away from their family and community in Texas, or risk never seeing her son again. Please sign and ask Norma Lacy, ICE public advocate in San Antonio, Franciso Venegas, deputy field office director, and Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, ICE public advocate, to grant deferred action and stop the deportation of Maria Veronica Ayala (A# A200595406).

  1,282 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by United We Dream
• Release DACA recipient Daniela NOW! #FreeDany

  U.S. immigration agents detained 22-year-old Daniela Vargas just hours after she courageously spoke about her fear of deportation at a press conference. She was afraid because two weeks ago, ICE officers raided her home and detained both her brother and father while she hid, terrified, in her closet for four hours. Dany came to the U.S. when she was seven years old and was a beneficiary of the DACA program, which grants a legal status to undocumented immigrants. She is a manager at a small store and dreams of becoming a math teacher. Like many beneficiaries of the DACA program, Dany found that paying the nearly $500 in fees every two years was hard, and her DACA status expired. However, she saved up, got the money together, and her renewal application is now in the approval process. But because of this technicality, ICE tracked her down and put her into the deportation pipeline—just hours after she courageously spoke out about this issue.

  28,618 of 30,000 Signatures

  Created by Cristina Jimenez
• ICE: Stop the Deportation of a Persecuted Asylum Seeker

  Shixin Lu is a 43-year-old asylum seeker and a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, Yuening Li. She is in danger of being imminently deported back to China, where she is almost certain to be detained and tortured by Chinese authorities solely because of her peaceful religious beliefs. Shixin and her husband, Austin, are practitioners of Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice outlawed in China since 1999. Tens of thousands of practitioners have since been detained and tortured. Shixin and Austin were both victims of this abuse in the early 2000’s, but following their detentions, they concealed their religious beliefs and built successful careers in China. In January 2014, Austin and their daughter traveled to the United States, joined by Shixin a few weeks later. Shixin was forced to return to China in February after receiving news that her father was ill. While in China, Shixin started to receive threats to her family’s well-being. In a panic, Shixin returned to the United States, where she was detained in ICE custody before applying for asylum. Her asylum claim was wrongly denied, despite the substantial proof of warnings from Chinese authorities. Shixin has been detained in county jail like criminal for more than one year in Calhoun County Jail although ICE has the power to parole ( release her) as she is neither flight risk nor danger to public and has legitimate asylum claim. ICE Field office should use proper discretion and free her now while asylum appeal is pending!

  13 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Ahlam Said
• Tell U.S. Mayors: Protect Undocumented Immigrants - Declare Your City a Sanctuary of Safety! #He...

  Mayors across the country must stand with their undocumented immigrant residents in this moment of crisis. Undocumented Immigrants like me are under attack—from Trump's assault on DACA, ICE's ruthless deportation machinery, and now Jeff Sessions' lawsuit against California's sanctuary laws. In a sanctuary city, officials implement policies to restrict local police from turning immigrants over to federal immigration agents and declare in no uncertain terms that immigrants are welcome. Without them, undocumented immigrants like me and my family are left vulnerable to racial profiling, detention and deportation. We salute the mayors of cities like Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland who have been strong in standing with their undocumented residents. Oakland's Mayor Libby Schaaf even took the courageous step of warning her residents of ICE round-ups, which may have saved hundreds of immigrants from being torn from their families. But we know that Trump, Sessions, and ICE are turning up their aggressive tactics—ICE agents have sought to enter houses of worship, targeted immigrant rights leaders, and detained immigrants whose status should have been protected, in addition to ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and El Salvadorans. In the face of Trump's aggression, city and state leaders can—and must—be strong. This is just the beginning —we can make our cities and states safe for all!

  131,241 of 200,000 Signatures

  Created by Greisa Martinez