Charlotte, NC – On July 17, the day of Uriel Alberto’s scheduled meeting with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and likely deportation, Alberto received a phone call and was told his order of ‘Stay of Removal’ had been approved.

What started off as a simple demonstration against reactionary anti-immigration policies, turned into a year-long struggle against Uriel Alberto’s ICE-enforced deportation process. In Raleigh, on Feb. 29, 2012, immigrant rights group El Cambio crashed a House Committee meeting on immigration issues, resulting in Alberto standing up and ripping off his outer shirt, revealing an undershirt reading, “Undocumented and Unafraid!”

Alberto was detained for his actions, sparking a ten-day hunger strike against his imprisonment. He was eventually released, but from then on ICE has been scheduling a year-long process in deporting him back to Mexico because of his unwillingness to do so voluntarily.

On July 4, what many in the United States mark as their Independence Day, Alberto launched a hunger strike against his scheduled deportation in front of the ICE office here in Charlotte. A petition was subsequently launched, calling for the U.S. House of Representatives to call off their hunt, reaching over 400 signers.

As was suggested by friends and family, Alberto began calling for an order of ‘Stay of Removal’ as July 17 kept getting closer and closer. Since then, it’s now been approved. A ‘Stay of Removal’ isn’t a permanent solution, but it would allow Alberto to remain in the country until the immigration court is able to sort out any legal issues and then bring back up his deportation case. For now, his deportation has been postponed.

When asked of the campaign’s temporary success, Alberto said, “Well I feel blessed with all the support from loved ones and strangers alike. Though I also feel some remorse because I feel there are others a lot more deserving perhaps, that have not been as lucky as I am. I’m glad to be able to stay in the country, but this “Stay of Removal” does not allow or give me any rights. This is part of the new immigrant working class that the Federal Government is creating, but it is a small victory in a long battle, and I’m ready to put it behind me and keep moving forward. Hopefully we will be able to apply for DACA now, because previously the government had advised us to not apply.”

Given the nationwide struggle for immigrant rights, and the subsequent call for ‘Legalization for All’, Alberto wished to speak to all those who are fighting the same struggle. “My one piece of advice to everyone,” he says, “is to fight until the end. To not give up, to not self-deport, but to fight your cases until the end!”

#CharlotteNC #deportations #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #immigrationRights #ElCambio #legalizationForAll #UrielAlberto

Charlotte, NC – On July 4, father and head of household Uriel Alberto sat in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement office here to partake in a hunger strike against his scheduled deportation on July 17. The hunger strike was temporarily suspended for him to join his family and friends in Winston-Salem who demonstrated against his deportation, but will return to Charlotte on July 8 to continue his hunger strike.

What started off as a simple demonstration against reactionary anti-immigration policies, turned into a year-long struggle against Uriel Alberto’s ICE-enforced deportation process. In Raleigh, on Feb. 29, 2012, immigrant rights group El Cambio crashed a House Committee meeting on immigration issues, resulting in Alberto standing up and ripping off his outer shirt, revealing an undershirt reading, “Undocumented and Unafraid!”

Alberto was detained for his actions, sparking a ten-day hunger strike against his imprisonment. He was eventually released, but from then on ICE has been scheduling a year-long process in deporting him back to Mexico because of his unwillingness to do so voluntarily.

Alberto has been in this country since he was seven. He’s the father of two children and provides for them financially. His deportation won’t just affect him as an individual with rights, it will affect his whole family, if the reactionary rightists get their way.

Giovanna Vargas, member of Yadkinville chapter of El Cambio, has started a petition, calling for the U.S. House of Representatives to end the hunt against undocumented immigrants, and in particular Uriel Alberto. The petition can be accessed here: http://www.change.org/petitions/john-morton-luis-guti%C3%A9rrez-help-stop-the-deportation-of-devoted-father-and-head-of-household

Giovanna says in relation to the current situation, “Uriel's case is one of many. Families are torn apart every day; perfectly good parents are taken from their children. Their children are then placed into institutions, when they actually have parents who love them and want to care for them. This immigration reform makes the system worse – it further criminalizes those families who want nothing more but a safe and better future.”

She continues, “North Carolina legislators have a huge fight on their hands, because organizers like myself, and more people from our communities are watching, we are resisting and we will keep fighting against the powers that be.”

So show your solidarity to Uriel Alberto by signing the petition, sharing it amongst friends and family, and join with Alberto in Charlotte, in front of the ICE office, in hunger strike against his deportation.

No more deportations! Legalization for all! ¡No a las deportaciones! ¡Legalización para todos!

#CharlotteNC #deportations #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #immigrationRights #ElCambio #legalizationForAll #UrielAlberto

Wentworth, NC – On Oct. 10, El Cambio, a North Carolina-based immigrant rights group, led 60 activists in challenging a racist ‘documentary’ shown at Rockingham Community College. The coalition included undocumented immigrants, Occupy Wall Street activists, students and immigration lawyers such as Marty Rosenbluth, executive director/attorney at North Carolina Immigrant Rights Project and Ann Marie Dooley of the North Carolina Immigration Law Division.

The Rockingham County sheriff’s office hosted the film, They Come to America: The Cost of Illegal Immigration. The sheriff claims it is a non-partisan film providing a venue for open discussion from both sides regarding the topic of immigration. El Cambio and their supporters decided to put these claims to the test.

El Cambio watched the film and found it not only attacked undocumented immigrants, but immigration in general. The propaganda film included an attack on Muslims in the U.S. as well. It claimed that anyone with a Qur’an or prayer rug was not only an immigrant, but also a terrorist. Three-quarters of the way through, the director of the film, Dennis Lynch, revealed his argument – that if the U.S. allows immigration to continue, then America will be under threat for another 9/11.

After sitting through an hour and a half of the film, El Cambio and their supporters said enough was enough, and walked out of the auditorium, into the hallways of Rockingham Community College. What began then was a storm of angry debate and confrontation with the sheriff’s racist supporters.

“How can portraying us as murderers,” said Giovanna Vargas of the Yadkin County El Cambio chapter, “possibly help people support comprehensive immigration reform? It creates a stigma of stereotypes and racism that prevents people from supporting immigration.”

Moises Serrano, another activist for the Yadkin County El Cambio chapter, furthered this concern, stating, “This ‘documentary’ places a barrier with the community that we are trying to reach out to, by drawing the link between murderers, criminals, and rapists to our immigrant communities. It purposely defeats our goals of trying to educate the community before we can even have the first word. We are being silenced and dehumanized when we have other people and other propaganda tell our stories without them ever letting us share our own.”

A few of those who supported the film’s vile claims came out and engaged the activists, relaying sound bites from the film itself. Rockingham County Commissioner James Kallam went so far as to verbally threaten Moises Serrano, asking him if he’d like to volunteer in being a shooting target in order to achieve his quota of killing three people in the county. Commissioner Kallam has since retracted his statement, claiming it to be a ‘joke.’ Few are laughing.

Overwhelmed by the show of opposition to the film, Sheriff Sam Page asked everyone to leave the crowded hallways. El Cambio continued the demonstration outside.

In front of the building, El Cambio dedicated the day, Columbus Day, to the indigenous communities by chanting, “They come to America – they who? Christopher Columbus was undocumented too!” This was a direct response to the film Director’s claim, “[Immigrants] are not here to cut your grass or mow your lawn, they are here to cut your throat.”

“We made history in Rockingham County,” said Moises Serrano. “No one had ever stood up to racism, hatred, or xenophobia in that county. So our win was more symbolic. Now they know that we will not sit idly by and let our communities be attacked in any way, shape, or form. We had an undocumented student who came out of the shadows for the very first time. If we empowered someone to do that then our job was done.”

Moises shed light on what was next for the group. “El Cambio’s next step is In-State Tuition Equality for undocumented students and to use our platform to push heavily for our goal in 2013. With such great friends and allies El Cambio now has in the movement, I know that if we work hard enough we will be able to see undocumented youth go to college at an in-state tuition rate.”

#WentworthNC #Racism #immigrationRights #ElCambio #RockinghamCounty #SheriffSamPage #documentary