Trouble in the South, sign the petition

from Patty Kupfer, America’s Voice Education Fund

“The main reason people don’t stand up for themselves and defend their own rights,” says Josue Diaz, “is because they’re afraid of being deported.”

Josue should know -- when he helped organize a strike, his employer called the police and Josue ended up in deportation proceedings.

Tell Secretary Napolitano that deporting labor organizers is unacceptable. Click here to take action.

Josue is just one of 32 civil rights and labor organizers throughout the South currently awaiting deportation because they dared to stand up for their rights.

This kind of punitive action is not only morally wrong, it also violates Obama Administration policy. The White House issued a policy last year designed to stop the deportations of labor organizers and civil rights defenders.

But immigration officials in charge of five Southern states are ignoring this policy and deporting immigrants standing up for their rights. And their boss Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, has done nothing to help.

That’s why we’re hand-delivering a petition to Janet Napolitano next week, and we want your name to be on it.

Click here to add your name to the petition telling Janet Napolitano to stop deporting labor organizers.

Josue wasn’t just standing up for himself, he was trying to help others. He was hired to clean up in the Gulf area after Hurricane Ike, and like many other immigrant workers, he was denied the safety gear needed to protect him from toxic sludge. If that’s not bad enough, he and other workers were denied the wages they were owed. 

By standing up, Josue and the Southern 32 have strengthened civil rights and labor protections for everyone.  Now we need to stand with them.

Take action now and tell Janet Napolitano to stop deporting these leaders. 

Thanks,
Patty Kupfer
America’s Voice Education Fund