Commentary: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.–Today –wearing their emblematic orange and yellow shirts with messages stating #HereToStay & #FightBack– immigrant youth, families and children staged a mock “immigrant detention center” outside the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court to denounce the racist, anti-immigrant attacks being carried out by the Trump administration across the country through senseless deportations, family separations, and militarization of our southern border.
Community members rallied together to showcase the power of community protection networks and empower more immigrants and people of conscience to join in the fight for sanctuaries of safety for all.
During the demonstration, members of the NM Dream Team held a press conference to announce the launch of their “#FightBack! Campaign” designed to continue building sanctuaries of safety in our city, state, schools and places of worship which are models for the world we want to live in: where all immigrants are #HereToStay, where all Black lives matter and where there is no trans and queer violence.
The sidewalks outside of the Bernalillo Court Metropolitan Court were filled with chalked ‘Know Your Rights Guides’ to inform community members of their rights. This comes as several reports have been made public of people being detained by immigration agents outside the court.
This action is part of National Worker’s Day, where thousands across the country in over 50 cities will be showcasing local power and a vision for a more equitable future.
The following are statements from community leaders with the NM Dream Team:
Gabriela Hernandez, Southwest Regional Organizer for United We Dream and member of the Nm Dream Team said,
“My stepfather was deported when I was 14. He didn’t have a driver’s license because at the time he couldn’t get one. He also didn’t have insurance, and one day going to work he got stop by police for a simple traffic violation. This caused me to never see my father again. It’s been ten years and I haven’t seen my father and I don’t know when I ever will. That moment in my life made me realize what it meant to be undocumented and all the injustice not only my family and I were living through, but the millions of people that had to live through that pain. It was heartbreaking to know that I would never see my father, and that’s why i’m here today because deportations are not new.
“At this very moment, Trump is asking Congress for billions of dollars to pay for his mass deportation agenda which would imprison 45,00 people in detention camps each and everyday. We’re here to demand that our Members of Congress say NO and block any funding that would incarcerate, detain and deport people like me and my family.
“Today, here in Albuquerque and cities across the country, people are rising up to show the power, resilience and unity of our communities.
“We have been fighting against Gov. Martinez– an anti-immigrant governor– for years, and our community has stand back and fight back! New Mexico is our home and we will not be pushed out. We are #HereToStay and organizing to win!”
The NM Dream Team and UWD makes a call to all people of conscious who wish to join the opposition to Trump’s racist agenda to join us by signing our #FightBack pledge and sending a text that reads HERETOSTAY to 877-877. Together we can build a better home where all of us will be free, safe and secure.
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The New Mexico Dream Team is a statewide network committed to create power for multigenerational, undocumented, and mixed status families towards liberation. Through trainings and leadership development, we work to engage our community and allies, in becoming leaders using an intersectional, gender, and racial justice lens—to develop and implement an organizing and advocacy infrastructure for policy change fighting to dismantle systemic oppression.
United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation, a powerful nonpartisan network made up of 55 affiliate organizations in 26 states. UWD organizes and advocates for the dignity and fair treatment of immigrant youth and families, regardless of immigration status. We seek to address the inequities and obstacles faced by immigrant youth and believe that by empowering immigrant youth, we can advance the cause of the entire community—justice for all immigrants.