Another *ACTION ALERT* #RaviRagbir has a hearing on Monday. This is a call for presence and prayer at 26 Federal Plaza at 11am. We’ll be doing what Ravi loves to do…Jericho Walk.
Please share this Facebook event listing with your friends:
Author Archives: ravidefense
Statement: Velázquez, Crowley Call on ICE to End Targeting of Immigrant Activists
[Watch archived Facebook Live video from the press conference here.]
Photo by Murad Awawdeh
Members of Congress Demand Meeting with Trump Officials after Detainment of Ravi Ragbir, Community Leaders
(New York, New York) —Flanked by community leaders and immigration rights activists, Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and members of the New York City Congressional delegation called today for a meeting with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to discuss the agency’s recent targeting of immigrant activists for detainment and deportation. Continue reading
“Ravidath Ragbir versus Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions, III”: Remarks by Rev. Kaji Douša at Rutgers Law School
The Rev. Kaji Douša is Senior Minister of Park Avenue Christian Church offered the following at the “Justice for Ravi” rally at Rutgers Law School:
Once upon a time, I was neutral on immigration.
Quite frankly, I hid behind “the law” to excuse my inaction.
My friend Ravi Ragbir, taught me – and, leading the Sanctuary movement, all of New York City – to rethink my position on “the law”.
After all, as Ravi gently reminded me and so many others, THE LAW – as originally conceived in these lands – wanted me to understand myself to be a fraction of a human.
NYCLU, ACLU Challenge Ravi Ragbir Arrest, Cite ICE Targeting of Activists
MEDIA CONTACT: NYCLU Press Office, 212.607.3372
NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union today filed an amicus brief challenging the detention of immigrant rights leader and New Sanctuary Coalition of NYC Executive Director Ravi Ragbir, who was arrested earlier this month during a regular check in with immigration officials. The groups argue that Ragbir’s detention is contrary to Immigration and Customs Enforcement regulations and represents an alarming trend in which ICE targets immigrant rights leaders for deportation.
Saturday Jan. 27 in NYC: Velázquez, Crowley Call on ICE to End Target of Immigrant Activists
Contacts:
- Alex Haurek (Velázquez): 202-225-2361
- Lauren French (Crowley): 202-738-3412
**MEDIA ADVISORY**
SATURDAY: Velázquez, Crowley Call on ICE to End Target of Immigrant Activists
Action Comes After Detainment of High-Profile NYC Community Activist, Ravi Ragbir
(New York, NY) –On Saturday, January 27th, Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) and Joe Crowley (D-NY), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, will join Amy Gottlieb, a community leader and wife of detained immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir, to denounce the targeting of immigrant activists by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Continue reading
Press Release: Opposition Grows Against ICE’s Aggressive Targeting of Immigrant Rights Activists
Community Organizations Across the U.S. Join Together To Condemn the Recent Actions of ICE and Demand the Department of Homeland Security Reverse the Agency’s Unlawful Operations
New York, NY: Over 1,800 community organizations, immigrant rights groups, faith-based organizations, immigrant rights lawyers, professors, and community supporters from 50 states have submitted a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen condemning the targeting of leaders in the movement for immigrant rights in the United States. The letter calls for the immediate release of Ravi Ragbir and Eliseo Jurado Fernandez from immigration detention, the return of Jean Montrevil from Haiti, and a halt to the effort to deport Maru Mora-Villalpando, all immigrant rights leaders who have been targeted for deportation in recent weeks.
Ravi Ragbir is Executive Director of the New Sanctuary Coalition and was detained by ICE on January 11th. He is currently being held in the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, NY. Via phone, Ravi said “The powerful community response has inspired me. It is clear that this energy is not going to go away – we are going to grow and get stronger and continue fighting for fairness and humanity in our immigration policy and we will see a world in which all people are treated with dignity and respect.”
Jean Montrevil is co-founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs officers on January 3rd and deported to Haiti on January 16. Jean stated, “My heart is broken. My family is broken. My kids life will never be the same. It is very sad to watch America moving to this direction. They came for me because I spoke out against injustice and broken immigration laws. Little did they know my supporters will continue to fight even more.”
Maru Mora-Villalpando leads Northwest Detention Center Resistance (NWDCR), a Tacoma organization that advocates for better treatment and conditions for detained immigrants and to stop the deportations that are tearing families apart. From Seattle, Maru said via text message, “I feel overwhelmed with love and support from so many, in so many different places. The reaction from our communities tells me we are in the path of liberation, that we are harvesting what we sow. People agree with us, these attacks are retaliation against our migrant justice work, and it won’t work because we all together will resist and ultimately win.”
Eliseo Jurado is the husband of immigrant rights activist Ingrid Encalada Latorre, who has taken sanctuary in Colorado churches since December 2016. Ingrid has publicly fought her own deportation based on a non-violent criminal offense.
The 1,800 organizations and individuals submitting the letter to DHS call for justice for these immigrant rights leaders, and an end to these practices. As the letter states, “DHS’s effort to silence political opposition through coercive government power sadly echoes some of the most shameful periods in our nation’s history. Our Constitution holds most dear the right of the people to come together and raise their voices in dissent. The viability of our democracy depends on the most robust protections for such dissent.”
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Ravi is back in New York. Now, let’s bring him home!
Thanks to your activism and support, Ravi has been transferred back to New York from Florida. He is being detained at Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, NY.
If you would like to write to him, sending him love & encouragement, address your letter as follows*:
Ravidath RAGBIR (A# 044-248-862)
Orange County Correctional Facility
110 Wells Farm Road
Goshen, NY 10924
*Do not include paperclips or staples with your letter.
Let us celebrate this victory, but dedicate ourselves to bringing him home permanently. Here are actions you can take:
- Write letters & Mail postcards to ICE and your elected officials demanding Ravi’s release. You can find postcards & instructions here: bit.ly/ravi-postcards
- Continue to call ICE and your elected officials demanding Ravi’s release. There are new phone numbers listed below (you filled up the other mailboxes!).
- Keep tweeting & sharing Ravi’s story on social media using #IStandWithRavi. Consider sharing this video or this Op-Ed written by Amy, Ravi’s wife.
To join the mailing list, click here.
To receive text updates, text ISTANDWITHRAVI to 41411
Thursday 1/25 in Newark, NJ: Justice for Ravi rally
Sign On Letter to the Secretary of DHS Condemning the Targeting of Immigrant Rights Leaders & Individuals Associated with the Sanctuary Movement
[Updated 1/24/18 with names of organizational and individual signers]
Download PDF of letter of letter here.
Kirstjen M. Nielsen January 22, 2018
Secretary of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Dear Secretary Nielsen,
We are community organizations, immigrant rights groups, faith-based organizations, and immigrant rights lawyers, professors, and activists writing to condemn the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) recent targeting of leaders of the sanctuary and immigrant rights movement and to call for the immediate release of Ravi Ragbir and Eliseo Jurado, the return of Jean Montrevil, and a halt to the effort to deport Maru Mora-Villalpando. Continue reading
Detained Immigrant Rights Leader Ravi Ragbir To Be Transferred to a Facility in the New York Region, Community Continues to Demand His Release
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 17, 2018
Following massive peaceful demonstrations in New York City protesting the detention of New York-based immigrant rights leader Ravi Ragbir in Krome Detention Facility in Miami, Florida, federal immigration officials agreed today to return Mr. Ragbir to the New York area, where he will remain detained pending the outcome of his legal case.
Mr. Ragbir was detained on January 11, 2018, while reporting to the New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office for a routine check-in. Without notice to his family or his attorneys, Mr. Ragbir was taken to Krome Detention Facility in Miami, Florida late that afternoon. The same day he was detained, Mr. Ragbir’s attorneys at the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic filed a lawsuit challenging his detention and obtained a federal court order issuing a temporary stay of deportation and preventing the government from transferring him outside of the New York area pending consideration of his case. ICE refused to bring him back, and a hearing was held on January 16, 2018, to determine whether ICE must be ordered to comply with the decision. At the hearing, the judge urged the government to consider returning Mr. Ragbir to a detention center closer to his family and counsel.
On January 17, 2018, counsel for ICE wrote to the court stating that they would exercise discretion to bring Mr. Ragbir back to the New York area. Another hearing on the lawfulness of detention is scheduled for the end of January.
“The last five days have been a nightmare for me,” said Amy Gottlieb, wife of Mr. Ragbir. “The government took my husband away from me and for a time no one would tell me where he was. When we learned he was taken to an immigration prison over a thousand miles away, I was both heartbroken and outraged. They never should have taken him away from his community in the first place, and I will not rest until he is free.”
Mr. Ragbir is the Executive Director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, a faith-based coalition devoted to immigrant rights. He is one of several immigrant rights leaders who have been targeted for deportation by ICE in recent days. Jean Montrevil, a co-founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition, was deported to Haiti on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
“We will call for action in our places of worship, in the streets, and in the courts until we receive justice for Ravi, Jean, and all others who face this inhumane system,” said New Sanctuary Coalition Co-Chair Rev. Kaji Dousa, Senior Pastor of Park Avenue Christian Church. “As people of faith, we must stand united against the targeting of our immigrant rights leaders.”
The New Sanctuary Coalition will be holding its weekly Jericho Walk at 26 Federal Plaza on Thursday January 18, 2018, at 11am, and at 201 Varick Street at 5pm, in support of justice for all immigrants, including Mr. Ragbir and Mr. Montrevil.
Support Ravi Ragbir 