To: The California State House, The California State Senate, Governor Gavin Newsom, and President Donald Trump
don't let me and my family be deported to our death in Venezuela.
Immigrant families are not a threat to America. They should not be torn apart.
Why is this important?
Release Rafael Benavides from Immigration Detention
Asylum for Berkeley’s Benavides-Pineda Family
No Deportations!
1. We, the classmates, teachers, friends, church, family, and community supporters ask this Immigration Court to terminate deportation proceedings for Rafael Benavides, Annelise Pineda, and Oriana Benavides Pineda and grant them and the rest of the Benavides-Pineda family asylum now.
2. The Benavides-Pineda family entered the United States with legal travel documents. Active members of the opposition movement in Venezuela, Rafael and other family members have been physically beaten and attacked for protesting the Maduro regime. They are part of the mass exodus of political refugees from Venezuela, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, seeking shelter in the United States and several other Central American, Latin American and Caribbean nations.
3. Rafael Benavides applied for asylum for himself and his family in July 2017. On November 12, 2017, while vacationing in Southern California, the Benavides-Pineda family accidentally drove across the border to Mexico, a common mistake on a confusing highway. This accident has put the family in an impossible and unnecessary situation, where despite their pending asylum process, they were detained and placed in deportation removal proceedings.
4. Rafael Simon Benavides remains in a Georgia detention center, away from his family for having done nothing wrong other than an honest common mistake.
5. It makes no sense to keep Rafael locked up in a detention facility in Georgia while his asylum petition is being processed.
6. We know how much his wife and children miss him and how much his absence has affected their well-being and their ability to live, learn, and blossom in our community.
7. We believe that families have the right to be together, especially when there is no reason to keep them apart.
THEREFORE, WE THE UNDERSIGNED:
Urge the immigration court to terminate the Benavides-Pineda family’s deportation proceedings, and allow them to reunite and continue their struggle for freedom and hope through the asylum process.
Asylum for Berkeley’s Benavides-Pineda Family
No Deportations!
1. We, the classmates, teachers, friends, church, family, and community supporters ask this Immigration Court to terminate deportation proceedings for Rafael Benavides, Annelise Pineda, and Oriana Benavides Pineda and grant them and the rest of the Benavides-Pineda family asylum now.
2. The Benavides-Pineda family entered the United States with legal travel documents. Active members of the opposition movement in Venezuela, Rafael and other family members have been physically beaten and attacked for protesting the Maduro regime. They are part of the mass exodus of political refugees from Venezuela, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, seeking shelter in the United States and several other Central American, Latin American and Caribbean nations.
3. Rafael Benavides applied for asylum for himself and his family in July 2017. On November 12, 2017, while vacationing in Southern California, the Benavides-Pineda family accidentally drove across the border to Mexico, a common mistake on a confusing highway. This accident has put the family in an impossible and unnecessary situation, where despite their pending asylum process, they were detained and placed in deportation removal proceedings.
4. Rafael Simon Benavides remains in a Georgia detention center, away from his family for having done nothing wrong other than an honest common mistake.
5. It makes no sense to keep Rafael locked up in a detention facility in Georgia while his asylum petition is being processed.
6. We know how much his wife and children miss him and how much his absence has affected their well-being and their ability to live, learn, and blossom in our community.
7. We believe that families have the right to be together, especially when there is no reason to keep them apart.
THEREFORE, WE THE UNDERSIGNED:
Urge the immigration court to terminate the Benavides-Pineda family’s deportation proceedings, and allow them to reunite and continue their struggle for freedom and hope through the asylum process.