Our Blog
11 CRLN staff, board and members will travel to DC April 20-23 for Ecumenical Advocacy Days and advocate for legislation that would improve the lives of immigrants. You can help us by giving your permission by Tuesday, April 17 to sign your name onto letters we will deliver to members of Congress or call your Representatives to support the following:
At a very high level, the federal budget for FY18 provides big increases in funding for both ICE and CBP. It provides $14.018 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $1.831 billion more than last year. It also provides $7.076 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $641 million more than last year. $370 million of this increase is for “Custody Operations”, the account that funds immigrant detention.
ICE has a lot of discretion over how those extra $370 million will be used. This means there’s little to guarantee that number of people held in immigrant detention won’t increase. Given this, and given that we’ve been raising concerns since last fall that ICE would use claims of increased per diem costs to get more money to fund expansion, we remain gravely concerned about the risk of large scale expansion despite the negotiated ADP numbers.
Although the appropriator added new language requiring ICE to submit weekly reports about the number of people it is holding in detention, we will be asking members of Congress to aggressively intervene if/when ICE begins using its funding to expand detention.
If your Representative or Senator voted against the bill (for the right reasons, of course), we will make sure to thank them. If they voted for the bill, especially if they had previously joined a DefundHate letter or otherwise expressed support for cutting funds, we hope to hold them accountable for their vote. We ask that members of Congress continue to push publicly for significant funding cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in the federal budget for FY19.
Resources:
Op-Ed – ‘We need a federal budget that values families, not one that destroys them’
Video Series – ICE lies, hides, and retaliates
Op-Ed – ‘These federal program incentivize policing. Why did Congress fund them?’
Please join us for a house party, held in the Rogers Park neighborhood, in support of the people of Honduras. The event is co-sponsored by the International Labor Rights Forum, Witness for Peace, and CRLN
Date/time: Sunday, April 8, 2018 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
RSVP: Space is limited to 50 people and will fill up. RSVP early to gabby@ilrf.org to hold your spot and to receive the address for the event.
In the immigration debate, we don’t often hear about how U.S. policies play a major role in exacerbating the push factors of migration, driving people from their homes to seek safety and security in the United States. In Honduras, recent U.S. policies have legitimized a violent dictatorship and implemented trade deals that exploit cheap labor. But a people’s movement has been re-born. Hondurans young and old are risking their lives to fight for a future where they can feed their families, have decent wages, and fully participate in a democratic society, without fear of reprisal. Come meet Honduran trade union leader, Tomas Membreño, and learn how people in the U.S. can hold the federal government and corporations accountable for their actions in Honduras.
Featuring:
- Tomas Membreño, STAS (Honduran Agricultural Workers Union)
- Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D – IL)
- Judy Gearhart and Gabby Rosazza, International Labor Rights Forum
- Elise Roberts and John Walsh, Witness for Peace
Background on STAS:
El Sindicato de Trabajadores/as de la Agroindustria y Similares, or STAS, is a trade union that organizes workers to fight for justice on plantations in Honduras that are exporting fruit to U.S and European markets. They represent over 800 workers in the banana, melon, sugar, and palm oil sectors, industries long plagued by poverty wages and exposure to toxic pesticides. Their efforts to seek dignity in the workplace have come at a high cost, as Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a trade unionist. STAS members and union leaders have received death threats and been physically attacked for organizing workers. For the past five months, 300 palm oil workers have been on strike protesting illegal firings and severe labor violations. STAS is looking for international support for their current campaigns to win collective bargaining agreements on Fyffes melon plantations and Grupo Jaremar palm oil plantations.
Spread the word on Facebook and forward this email to others that may be interested!
As members, we commit to the following:
- To build networks of love and protection.
- To make an impact on US policy toward Latin America and on immigration policy through education and advocacy.
- To accompany our partners in Latin America who are leading the fight for human rights. We work with organizations of indigenous, African-descended, LGBTQ, women and others who are marginalized or threatened in their countries and are seeking social justice.
- To build interfaith power for immigrant justice and act against unjust detention and deportations.
- To participate in expanding sanctuary and meet other people and organizations resisting the criminalization of communities of color.
| Membership Benefits | Individual | Congregational / Organizational |
| CRLN event tickets | Advance notice and
10% discount on tickets |
Advance notice, 10% discount on tickets + 1 free ticket |
| Training | Discounts on trainings | Limited free spots in CRLN trainings plus a customized training for your congregation or organization |
| Input into annual programming | Input at annual member meeting | Input at annual member meeting |
| E-Digest, action alerts, issue updates & webinars | Monthly E-Digest, action alerts, issue updates and invitations to webinars
|
Monthly E-Digest, action alerts, issue updates, invitations to webinars and promotion of your events related to campaigns |
| Other resources | New member packet, interfaith toolkits and signage available for download
|
New member packet, interfaith toolkits and signage available for download as well as access to the CRLN resource library
|
1. Contact Honduran Authorities
2. Contact US and Canadian Representatives
Long-time Honduran activist Edwin Espinal was arrested by US-trained police forces
on January 19, 2018, on trumped up charges related to protests against the
presidential election fraud on November 26, 2017. Since the elections, at least 35
demonstrators and bystanders have been killed during anti-fraud protests, the
majority carried out by state security forces which routinely fired live bullets at
protesters. In the same context, according to data from Honduran human rights
organizations, at least 393 people were injured and 76 people tortured. The Public
Prosecutor’s Office, which has two embedded US advisors, has yet to prosecute any
of the murders by state forces, but instead, has arrested and pressed charges
against dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators.
We encourage you to join the Global Day of Action today, March 19,
2018, to demand the immediate freedom of Edwin Espinal and all political prisoners in Honduras.
Edwin Espinal and other 25 political prisoners have been targeted for their role in the
opposition to the elections and involvement in anti-fraud protests. They face
fabricated charges including accusations of terrorism, arson and criminal
association. Some cases are being reviewed by judges embedded in military-led
task forces and many arrests were carried out by US-trained, vetted, and financed
security forces like the special forces TIGRES unit. The majority of the 26 Honduran
political prisoners are being held in newly built US-modeled, military-run, maximum
security prisons and their cases have been plagued by the refusal of Honduran state
prosecutors to share information with their attorneys. Judges ordered pretrial
detention for all 26 political prisoners who could remain in prison for years while
awaiting trial. The political prisoners are being held in jails across the country – in the
northern cities of Tela and El Progreso, in the “La Tolva” prison in Morecelí, El
Paraiso, and the “El Pozo” jail in Ilama, Santa Barbara.
US-trained security forces and officials have not only carried out the arbitrary
detentions of political opposition and social movement leaders, but in some cases
run the prisons. Human rights defenders, journalists, and even the attorneys and
families of the accused have been denied access making it extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to verify their conditions. We know that some political prisoners have
been held for long periods in solitary confinement and denied their essential rights
under the law. This is deeply regrettable but not surprising in a political environment
where corruption and impunity are rampant.
Edwin Espinal has been subject to state harassment, violence, and threats since the
2009 US-backed coup, which has led him to receive precautionary measures by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. On March 3rd, Edwin Espinal began
a hunger strike to demand that he, political prisoner Raúl Eduardo Álvarez, and other
inmates be taken to see a physician. There is some sort of flu-like virus circulating
inside the jail module where approximately 200 prisoners are being held. Edwin and
other prisoners have been refused medical attention for several days. In another
maximum security prison where 15 political prisoners are being held, a tuberculosis
outbreak was recently reported, suspecting at least 30 cases and 5 deaths. The
prevalence of these illness can be linked to the poor conditions inside the prison
including severe water shortages and less than adequate amounts of food provided
to prisoners
Save the date and join CRLN, Detention Watch Network, and many other organizations in the Chicagoland area for a people’s tribunal, as we put ICE on Trial in Kankakee on April 28th. We will be calling attention to abuses in the immigration enforcement system and demanding transparency and accountability.
More information will be available soon.
CRLN has participated in 8th Day Center for Justice’s Good Friday Walk for Justice since the beginning of our organization, often organizing the litany for one of the stations. We invite you to participate with us again in this last walk organized by 8th Day. Read more about the event on 8th Day’s webpage.
When & Where: Gather at the corner of Congress Pkwy and Michigan Ave at 12:00 p.m. on March 30, 2018. We will follow the same route as previous years, continuing to the Chicago Board of Trade, Federal Plaza, Daley Plaza, and the Thompson Center. The event will end by approximately 3:00 p.m.
Contact us at 312-641-5151 for more info.
Click here to buy your advance tickets, sponsor the event, reserve parking, and indicate the number of children needing childcare.
Date: Saturday, April 14, 2018
Location: Wellington Ave. UCC, 615 W. Wellington Ave.
Time: 5:30 pm — Come eat before the concert! Doors open at 5:30 pm with traditional Latino food for purchase.
7:00 – 8:30 pm — Concert
Parking: Limited complimentary parking passes are available thanks to Advocate IL Masonic Hospital. If you are a volunteer at the event, contact Kathy at waucc@sbcglobal.net to reserve a pass. If you plan to buy a ticket, the payment form below will also allow you to reserve a pass.
Childcare: On-site childcare is available. If you are a volunteer at the event, contact Kathy at waucc@sbcglobal.net with the number of children needing childcare. If you plan to buy a ticket, the payment form below will also allow you to indicate the number of children needing childcare.
Tickets: $25 general admission; $15 students/limited income; Children under 12 FREE
Click here to buy your advance tickets, reserve parking, and indicate the number of children needing childcare.
Join Illinois SOAWatch for a fundraiser to help activists from Latin America travel to Chicago for a September SOAW strategy meeting and to Fort Benning, GA, for the SOAW 30th Anniversary Vigil.
Date and time: Sunday, June 9, 2-4pm
Location: Timber Lanes, 1851 W. Irving Park Rd, Chicago, 60613.
Street/Meter Parking • Irving Park Brown Line Stop
RSVP: to Chris Inserra, cminserra@sbcglobal.net
Cost: Donation: $35 – $50
Students & Limited Income: $20
Click here for online donation page OR make checks payable to CRLN and write “SOAW bowling” on the memo line and bring it with you to the event. You may also mail your check to CRLN, 4750 N. Sheridan Rd, #429, Chicago, IL 60640-5078.