Tear gas on children. Tens of thousands of immigrants imprisoned and awaiting deportation. Military troops instead of humanitarian aid. The denial of asylum to thousands of people fleeing rampant violence in their homelands.
What we are experiencing is a moral crisis as much as it is a political one. As this security state employs a white supremacist mandate to demonize, divide, incarcerate, and deport, we as people of conscience must stand up with our fellow humans and say No More! / No Mas!
Here we provide a collection of suggested actions for migrant justice and human rights in this critical moment.
LOVE KNOWS NO BORDERS
This weekend FOR leaders, including FOR’s Bayard Rustin team members, will mobilize with hundreds of others at the San Diego/Tijuana border as part of AFSC’s Love Knows No Borders campaign. You are invited to participate, including an interfaith service this Sunday night and a nonviolent direct action at the border on Monday, Dec. 10th (International Human Rights Day).
Wherever you live, AFSC and the Poor People’s Campaign encourage your community to hold a solidarity vigil, Jericho Walk, educational program, or other event during the week of action between Dec. 10 to 18. Search for an event near you or develop your own local “echo” effort using the campaign’s Solidarity Action Toolkit (PDF download).
HOW TO SUPPORT GRASSROOTS WORK ON THE BORDER
The Border Support Network develops autonomous, semi-permanent camps along the U.S.-Mexico border, built on Indigenous land, to strengthen long-term resistance to inhumane immigration policies and border wall construction.
Drawing on “The Eagle and the Condor prophecy,” a statement from Indigenous Elders, BSN has called for donations to support trusted activists on the ground.
These activists, working full-time with migrants in Tijuana through Bridge of Love Across the Border, have also identified a list of donations urgently needed to support the migrant asylum seekers in local shelters.
WHY ARE THEY SEEKING ASYLUM?
This Saturday, December 8th at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time (9:30 p.m. EST), organizers from the Truth Telling Project and FOR will host a live political educational conversation in Playas de Tijuana about the United States’ involvement in creating violence in Central America.
Register via Zoom in advance of the event to attend the live discussion via online video. Want to attend the live event? Contact our lead organizer to learn where it will be held.
SANCTUARY CARAVAN
Organized by the New Sanctuary Coalition, a faith-based immigrant rights group led by immigrants, this campaign of “nonviolent liberation” seeks to send hundreds of people to the U.S.-Mexico border over the course of the next 2-3 months.
This initiative will be focused at the San Isidro border crossing in Southern California; participants will participate in witnessing, documenting, and accompanying migrants seeking asylum and refuge in the United States. FOR affilaited groups including the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship have signed on; learn how you can get involved.
CHRISTMAS IN TORNILLO
Christmas in Tornillo will witness and protest a youth internment camp for children located in Tornillo, Texas. Located in the middle of the desert and surrounded by barbed-wire fencing, activists describe this as a children’s concentration camp for over 2,000 kids! Taking place from December 23 to January 1, this initiative will ultimately look beyond Tornillo, seeking to build a sustained effort to demand all children are released from detention and remaining camps closed.
STOP U.S. ARMS TO MEXICO
Many asylum seekers at the border are fleeing rampant violence in their home countries. This binational initiative seeks to contribute to a substantial reduction of U.S. legal arms sales and illegal gun trafficking to Mexico, in order to reduce a central contributor to growing violence experienced by communities and migrants in Mexico. Learn how you can support the project.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Faith in Public Life is inviting people of faith to sign a pledge to stand in solidarity with people seeking asylum.
The Community of Living Traditions (FOR affiliate group, based at the Stony Point Center in New York) will host a “Seminal Books” conversation on Dec. 13th at 7:00 p.m. EST on the legacy of Jim Corbett, author of Sanctuary of All Life and considered a co-founder of the 1980s sanctuary movement.
The speakers will be Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase, who lived for more than a decade in Tucson AZ and were deeply influenced by Corbett’s life and work. The event will be livestreamed via the Center & Library for the Bible and Social Justice’s Facebook page.
