CONTACTS:
English: Jeff Winder (434) 906-0421 jeff (at) thepeopleunited.org
Spanish: Sue Frankel-Streit (434) 989-4641 littleflowercw (at) wildmail.com

Virginian Citizens to Cross the Desert into the U.S. without Documentation
Protest is an Extension of VA-based work for Immigrant’s Rights

Immigrant rights activists from Virginia will travel to Mexico and then cross the desert into the United States without carrying government-issued identification. Two Virginia residents, Patrick Lincoln of Harrisonburg and Virginia Leavell of Charlottesville, recently returned from a scouting trip to Tucson, Az. and Nogales, Mx. While they were there, Patrick and Virginia made preparations for the crossing by meeting with local organizers and scouting the border region. The action, organized by the Virginia-based activist network The People United, is scheduled to take place the third week of April. The crossing will formally end at May Day demonstrations in Washington, D.C. organized by the immigrant justice organization Mexicans Without Borders.

“With the climate in Virginia becoming increasingly racist and anti-immigrant, we need a creative, dramatic action to challenge injustice and spark more resistance among citizens,” said Sue Frankel-Streit, a Louisa County resident and participant in the border crossing.

Legislation in Prince William County, Virginia, requiring police to verify documentation for anyone under suspicion of having committed a crime and limiting county services to non-citizens, passed unanimously this fall despite a vocal struggle by the immigrant community and their allies. Other local governments are now looking to this resolution as a model for dealing with illegal immigration and over one hundred anti-immigrant bills have surfaced at the state level during the current Virginia General Assembly session. In Prince William County and across the state, immigrants have been detained for minor traffic offenses and face deportation and separation from their families.

“We want to make it clear that anti-immigrant policies serve to divide us, distract us from the real problems in our communities and create a vulnerable workforce, rather than limit immigration or make us more secure,” said Patrick Lincoln.

Ricardo Juarez, organizer with Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders), says that the organization has endorsed the action to, “focus attention on the reasons why people are forced to cross the border in search of jobs and survival.”

Previously published article, from Charlottesville Daily Progress: www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite