Presbyterian Peace Fellowship - Families Belong Together

Dear friends, We are heartbroken, enraged, and grieving what is happening in Minneapolis and across the country. We name the lives lost through ICE violence, detention, and enforcement. Their names matter: People killed in ICE detention or ICE-related custody and enforcement: Geraldo Lunas Campos Parady La Victor Manuel Diaz Heber Sanchez Domínguez Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres (source: Al Jazeera) And we add the names of those recently killed during federal enforcement actions: Keith Porter Jr. Renée Good Alex Pretti We mourn each of these lives. We grieve their families and loved ones. We also grieve the thousands of families being separated and the children being taken by ICE, sometimes from their homes and sometimes from schools, always through fear and force. We also recognize that faith communities are rising together to resist these practices and to protect immigrants and their families, not just locally but across the country. Hundreds of clergy from many faith traditions recently gathered in Minneapolis to learn from local leaders and to stand in solidarity with people targeted by ICE enforcement, and many then took their witness into the streets and airports as part of this interfaith effort to resist ICE tactics rooted in violence and separation. (source: The Presbyterian Outlook) Let us be absolutely clear: Families belong together. Families should never be separated. Children should never be taken from their caregivers. We unequivocally support peaceful protest and the right of communities to demand accountability. What is happening is enraging. It is cruel. It is unacceptable. And it must stop.  Take action: Call your senators and representatives and tell them that family separation, deaths in detention, and lethal enforcement are unacceptable. Demand accountability. Demand an end to this violence.  If you are looking for sustainable ways to get involved, we invite you to join one of PPF’s working groups, which are doing long-term, grounded work for justice and peace: • Palestine Solidarity • Gun Violence Prevention • Presbyterians for Abolition • Peace Church Working Group Learn more and get involved here: https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/our-work We will continue to speak out, organize, and insist on a world where families are kept together, always. In peace and solidarity, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship photo credit: Lesia Cortez photo credit for Block ICE graphic: Nicolas Lampert

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship | 17 Cricketown Road | Stony Point, NY 10980 US