[The initiators of this petition ask that all friends of the immigrant rights movement take a moment to read and sign it as a show of opposition to the ongoing attacks on immigrants in Danbury and across the country. If you and/or your organization would like to endorse, please email
FreeTheDanbury11@yahoo.com or call (203) 417-3590. Thank you.]
Dear Representative Johnson, Governor Rell, and Mayor Boughton:
On Tuesday, September 19, the city government of Danbury collaborated with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an attack on working people. A law enforcement agent, disguised as a contractor, lured 11 immigrant day laborers into a van with the promise of work and drove them to the Danbury police station, where federal agents awaited to whisk them away to jail in Hartford, then on to detention in Boston.
With no justification, 7 of them have since been moved to a prison in Texas, making it even more difficult for families to contact them or petition for their release.
On Wednesday, October 12, the ICE attacked again, raiding the homes of 3 immigrant workers in Danbury and arresting them. On the same day, a fourth immigrant was pulled over and arrested for not using his turn signal, and Danbury police called the ICE to take him away.
These people are not criminals. They came here to work and contribute to the wealth of our society. Any law that says otherwise is an abomination and must be changed immediately.
We view all of these arrests as audacious attacks on civil liberties, due process, workers' rights, and human dignity. No attack on immigrant workers can improve the lives of American-born workers. On the contrary, every raid that goes unchallenged is an assault on the living standards of working people, regardless of legal status, because it weakens the resolve of immigrants to stand up for themselves and makes it easier for employers to get away with paying everyone less.
We demand that all of the remaining Danbury 11 who remain imprisoned be freed immediately, with charges dropped, and that they be joined in freedom by all other prisoners of the unjust immigration policy in the U.S. We further demand an immediate end to the attacks on the immigrant community and to the collaboration of the State of Connecticut and City of Danbury with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Finally, we demand equal rights and legalization for all immigrants.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Sincerely,
Leonel Villavicencio, President, Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants
Franklin Peña, President, Ecuadorian Civic Center of Danbury
Wilson Hernandez, Vice President, Ecuadorian Civic Center of Danbury
Pastor Juana Jourdain-Villavicencio, Hispanic United Church of Christ
Christopher Towne, Danbury Coalition for Peace
John Olsen, President of Connecticut AFL-CIO
Art Perry, Political Director of SEIU/32BJ Connecticut
Carol Lambiase, Education Director, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
Roger Vann, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut
Michael Boyle, President, CT Association of Immigration Attorneys
Rabbi Donna Berman, Executive Director, Charter Oak Cultural Center
Paul Filson, Director, SEIU State Council
Father Mike Galasso, Chaplain, Connecticut House of Representatives
Father Pedro Dinis, Coordinator, Brazilian Catholic Center of Danbury
Rachel Meeropol, Center for Constitutional Rights
National Lawyers Guild, Connecticut Chapter
Gabriel Camacho, Coordinator of New England American Friends Service Committee's Project Voice
Andrea van den Heever, President, Connecticut Center for a New Economy
Joyce Hamilton Henry, Executive Director, Democracy Works, Middletown
Kica Matos, Executive Director, Junta for Progressive Action, New Haven
Alfred L. Marder, Chairman, City of New Haven Peace Commission
Henry Lowendorf, Chair, New Haven Peace Council
Simon Moshenberg, Yale Law School Legal Clinic, New Haven
Marie Lausch, VP, UE Local 222, CILU/CIPU
Renae Reece, Hartford Director, Connecticut Center for a New Economy
James A. Welcome, National Lawyers Guild, CT Chapter
Connecticut Center for a New Economy
West Hartford Citizens for Peace & Justice
People of Faith CT
Emanuela Lima, Tribuna Newspaper, Danbury
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)
Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Pennsylvania Federation BMWED Teamsters
Dan McCarthy, Business Representative, Local 547, I.U.O.E in Detroit
New York Construction Workers United
John Kirkland, Carpenters LU 1462
Ernesto Capello, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of History, Univ. of Vermont
Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights, NYC
Stephen Kobasa, Colombia Action/CT
Martin Unzueta, Chicago Worker's Collaborative
The Brown Berets, Salt Lake City, Utah
Rachel Soltis, Mercy Center of Bronx, NY
Patricia Wallace, Office of Urban Affairs, Archdiocese of Hartford
Julie Willensky, Yale University Law Student, New Haven
Michael Verrett, Mercy Church, Plainville
Barbara Richards, Unidad Latina en Acción, New Haven
Morgan Birtwell, UACT, Meriden
John Bau, UACT, Wallingford
Justas S. Beach, South Church, New Britain
Charlene Corbett, South Church, East Granby
Katherine Fagerburg, South Church, New Britain
David Ratz, South Church, New Britain
Susan Condren, South Church, New Britain
Nicole Paulin, Eastern Connecticut State University