Brutality of migrants and refugees, telephone press conference

Dear President Obama,
You can begin a new era in the history of Immigrant America...

Immigrant rights groups will deliver an "Open Letter to President Barack Obama" calling for action in the first 100 days of his Administration to end raids and suspend all detentions & deportations and implement humanitarian practices and policies

Over 3,500 individuals and organizations sign Open Letter to President Obama.

What: National Telephonic All Media Conference

When: 10:00 AM Pacific,Tuesday, January 27, 2009 for a duration of one hour (11:00 AM Mountain, 12:00 PM Central, 1:00 PM Eastern)

Where: Call 1 (719) 325-4843

Conference Title: "NNIRR Open Letter to President Obama"

Who:
Catherine Tactaquin, Executive Director, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
Susan Gillis, Advocate for Mr. Rebhy Abdel-Malak, an Egyptian brutally beatened by ICE agents in detention while seeking asylum
Betsy DeWitt, Families for Freedom, New York
Esther López, United Food and Commercial Workers, Washington, D.C.
Isabel García, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Tucson, AZ
Arnoldo García, Moderator, NNIRR
Why: Community members and partners of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) will be delivering an "Open Letter to President Barack Obama" calling for accountability and decisive changes in immigration enforcement policies and practices in the first 100 days of his Administration. Speakers will provide testimony of the brutal impacts of immigration enforcement and border control on immigrant families, workers and communities.

Signed by over 3,500 individuals and organizations from across the country, the letter calls on President Obama to end immigration raids, suspend all detentions and deportations and restore Constitutional rights and protections for all immigrants and their families at the border and in the interior of the U.S. as the first step of implementing humanitarian policies and practices in the treatment of immigrants.

Ms. Catherine Tactaquin, NNIRR Executive Director, declared, "Ending raids will not be enough to stop the abuses. In fiscal year 2008, the Department of Homeland Security deported 349,041 persons; less than two percent, or about 6,000, were deported through immigration raids. Immigration enforcement is trampling the rights and dignity of countless immigrant workers, and their families and communities are being devastated by the deportations and other rights abuses."

Ms Tactaquin added, "We're calling on President Obama to take decisive action during the first 100 days of his Administration by ending raids and stopping abuses in U.S. immigration detention centers and deportations. The Obama Administration and Congress must take a hard look at the disastrous results U.S. immigration and border control has had on our communities. Our government can implement these immediate changes to make a difference in the lives of immigrant and refugee members of our communities. Then President Obama and Congress can end the abuses and rights violations once and for all by enacting socially just immigration reforms."