Press releases
Ella's Daughters Arrested
Three of Ella's Daughters, IYJL Organizers were arrested in immigration protests in DC on July 20th. See Washington Post article to find out more about Reyna Wences, Ireri and Tania Unzueta, visit IYJL's website, or follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/IYJL.
Immigrant Youth Justice League - Show Your Support for the DREAM!
On May 17th, five young leaders of the immigrant student movement, four of them undocumented, carried out a sit-in at Senator John McCain’s office in Tucson, Arizona. With this action, Mohammad Abdollahi of Michigan, Yahaira Carrillo of Kansas, Tania Unzueta of Chicago, Raul Alcaraz of Arizona, and Lizbeth Mateo of California, called on Senator McCain and congressional leadership to take action and pass the DREAM Act. After 7 and a half hours, Mohammad, Yahaira, Raul, and Lizbeth were arrested by the Tucson Police Department, and they spent the night at the Pima County Jail.
Tania Unzueta, 26, co-founder of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, an immigrant rights organizer in Chicago, and an undocumented youth, participated in this act of peaceful resistance the intolerable situation these students share with over one million potential DREAM Act beneficiaries across the country. Tania left the office before the arrests took place to speak to reporters, stating that she had been designated the spokesperson for the group.
On May 18th, all four leaders entered not-guilty to trespassing charges and were assigned a June 16th court date. Raul Alcaraz, a lawful permanent resident, was released on the condition that he would appear at the June 16th court date. The other three youth were expecting release but were instead detained and processed by ICE. That same night Mohammad, Yahaira, and Lizbeth were issued a field released supervision by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
They are facing federal charges of trespassing, and will be fighting their deportation proceedings.
Even though now three of them are facing imminent deportation and that this risk is a possibility for the other two youth, Mohammad, Yahaira, Lizbeth, Tania, and Raul remain committed to create a new standard for immigration reform based on education, hard work, equality, and fairness through the passage of the DREAM Act.
In order to show the outpouring of community support around the DREAM Act we have put together a sign on letter to both Congressman Gutierrez and Senator Durbin. Both of them are long time allies of the immigrant rights movement and have the power to move the DREAM Act forward.
Please show your support by signing on to both of these letters!