Migrant Posada Belen, Ac, Humanity Without Borders, Ac,  Justice Border, Ac

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• 6th Report – English
• Sexto Informe – Español

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2011
6–9 PM
The Amistad Center
of Santa Lucia Parish
518 Gallagher Street
El Paso, TX 79915
Dinner Ticket: $50

All proceeds support the work of Annunciation House.

ANNUNCIATION HOUSE
815 MYRTLE AVE, EL PASO, TX 79901,
915-533-4675
contact Voice of the Voiceless

BELÉN, POSADA DEL MIGRANTE
Located in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, Belén, Posada del Migrante has offered hospitality to more than 40,000 immigrants, largely Central and South Americans. Together with two human rights organization it hosts, Belén, Posada del Migrante boldly advocates against the kidnapping, extortion, sexual abuse, and murder of migrants by criminal organizations and the simultaneous complicity of public officials. In the context of impunity, Belén, Posada del Migrante, was an outspoken critic of the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.

OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER: BISHOP RAUL VERA
Bishop José Raúl Vera López, OP has been a bold defender of human rights throughout Mexico, especially of those of the indigenous and the immigrant. He speaks out against the kidnapping of immigrants and the Mexican government’s inability to disarm drug cartels.

PRESS CONFERENCE

DATE: SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010

TIME: 2:30 PM

LOCATION: CASA VIDES
325 Leon Street
El Paso, Texas

SUBJECT: PETITION FOR PROTECTION FOR MEXICAN NATIONALS FLEEING THE VIOLENCE IN MEXICO/JUAREZ

A coalition of community agencies, organizations, and legal advocates will hold a press conference to express serious concern over the politicizing of the Political Asylum process vis-à-vis its application to Mexican nationals fleeing the violence in Mexico and Ciudad Juarez as well as to call upon the Obama Administration to undertake an independent investigation of how the application process for political asylum is being applied to Mexican nationals. In Addition, the initiation of a national Petition for Protection effort, calling on the Obama Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice, to make use of existing avenues available in law and regulation to provide legal relief and protection to Mexican nationals directly impacted by the violence in Juarez will be released.

At the present time, the Department of Homeland Security is rejecting asylum petitions from Mexicans fleeing the violence on a wholesale basis and yet, tens of thousands of Mexicans have sought refuge in El Paso and other border cities, and now live in hiding because there is no legal avenue available for protection.

Included among the agencies and organizations issuing the statement are the following: Annunciation House, Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Border Network for Human Rights, Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project, ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights, Columban Missionaries, Project Puente of El Paso, The Opportunity Center for the Homeless, Catholic Diocese Peace & Justice Ministry.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ruben L Garcia, Annunciation House
Email via the website

During the past several years, we have witnessed an unprecedented crisis of violence in Mexico and especially in the border city of Juarez. Tens of thousands have been killed or wounded and reports of kidnappings, extortion, carjacks are staggering. The crisis has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, many making the decision to relocate in other parts of Mexico in an attempt to find safety. But countless others have fled their country entirely and sought refuge in the United States.

A significant number of Mexican nationals directly affected by the violence and who have crossed into the United States have petitioned for political asylum in the US. The response to these petitions has been an almost wholesale denial of asylum applications. What Mexicans fleeing the violence in Mexico are discovering is that there is no legal support or relief available to them. In addition, they are discovering that there is no political will to find ways of applying existing law and regulations to afford some measure of protection to individuals affected by the violence.

The wholesale denial of asylum to Mexicans fleeing the violence and the almost total absence of the use of alternative measures to afford some basic level of protection to individuals and families victimized by the violence has led to the preparation of a Petition for Protection demanding that the Obama Administration and DHS respond and act.

The Petition for Protection is attached. Signatories and endorsements are now being sought and you and the organization you represent are being asked to sign-on.

The Petition for Protection will be released at a news conference that will be held on:

NEWS CONFERENCE
DATE:SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010
TIME: 2:30 PM
LOCATION: CASA VIDES
ADDRESS: 325 LEON STREET, EL PASO, TEXAS

Organizations are asked to participate in the news conference and send a representative.

Ruben Garcia
Director of Annunciation House

Award Dinner April 24, 2010

Dear Friends of Annunciation House,

Since January of 2008, the drug initiated violence in Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas, has resulted in the deaths of more than five thousand individuals. The violence has been such that tens of thousands of Juarez residents have fled the city, and El Paso’s Chief of Police estimates that some thirty thousand of these residents have crossed the border and are now living in El Paso as a means of protecting themselves and their families.

For many of its residents, the violence in Mexico and especially in Juarez has created an environment of impunity with little or no accountability. Time and again, individuals directly impacted by the violence tell of speaking to law enforcement only to be told that nothing can be done or advised to leave the city or the country. And yet, in the midst of this reality, in the midst of the fear, there continue to be voices for justice that seek to advocate, support, and protect the victims of the violence.

In its role as witness and advocate, the Board of Directors of Annunciation House has decided to use this year’s Voice of the Voiceless event to focus on the reality that is being lived in Juarez, Mexico. On Saturday, April 24, 2010, Annunciation House will present its sixth Voice of the Voiceless Award to Rev. Oscar Enriquez Perez, founder and director of the non-governmental Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte and Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, ombudsman for the state of Chihuahua’s Commission for Human Rights.

In the present environment, among the most vulnerable in Juarez have been human rights organizations which have sought to document the complaints of victims of the violence and advocate on their behalf with law enforcement, military officials, and governmental offices. It falls on these organizations to inquire about the illegal detention of individuals, reports of the use of torture and executions by the military, kidnappings, and an epidemic of extortion reports. In the course of doing their work, human rights workers have been harassed and had their lives threatened in attempts to stop investigations of human rights complaints. Father Oscar Enriquez and Gustavo de la Rosa are voices, in both word and deed, on behalf of the voiceless victims of violence in Juarez.

During its 32-year history, Annunciation House has hosted over 100,000 refugees, immigrants, and undocumented persons from over 40 countries. The vast majority of these individuals have been refugees who have fled the violence of political upheaval, civil wars, death squads, human rights abuses, and especially, stifling poverty. Common to all of these people has been the almost categorical absence of a viable way to find protection, redress their grievances, exert their human rights, or respond to the forces that threaten their lives and those of their families. This reality gives rise to courageous people who recognize the vulnerability of the countless voiceless and accept the call to work, struggle, and witness on behalf of the oppressed poor. Through their work and actions, these individuals give voice to the poor and their profound yearning to be heard and freed.

Annunciation House’s Voice of the Voiceless Award recognizes the importance of voices that offer a guiding path of light in times of darkness. The Award honors the prophetic voices among us, affirming advocacy on behalf of the poor, and recognizes that such witness is often made at personal risk. Recipients have a profound understanding of what it means to be in solidarity with the poor and are willing to respond to that interior call that impels them to stand with and advocate with those whose voices are ignored or overshadowed.

Mexicans affected by the violence have few alternatives for protection. Historically, those with well-founded fear of persecution have sought political asylum. But Mexican nationals applying for political asylum are being denied asylum on a wholesale basis. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) – the US governmental agency charged with processing asylum claims – reports that since the outbreak of violence in Mexico in 2006, the US has received 12,110 asylum applications from Mexican nationals. But less than 2%, or 232, were granted political asylum. To place this in context, during this same time period, Columbian nationals submitted 5,879 asylum claims and 40 %, or 2,351, were granted.

Since the violence in Mexico erupted, the fear of being denied asylum and deported back to Mexico has led the majority of Mexican nationals who have crossed into the US to not pursue political asylum and instead live as undocumented immigrants. Annunciation House has seen this firsthand among families from Mexico hosted in our houses of hospitality. The two families that did apply for asylum were both denied, and two other families awaiting a final decision are not hopeful. The reality for the majority of Mexican nationals affected by the violence is to try and eke out a living in the underground of the undocumented.

For this reason, Annunciation House is initiating a campaign to ask the Obama Administration to grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Mexican nationals who have been directly affected by the violence in Mexico. TPS is a legal remedy available by executive order of the US president. It is a remedy that President Obama used with Haitian nationals after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. It was also used to assist nationals from Honduras after Hurricane Mitch and nationals from Liberia after civil war broke out in Liberia. TPS would offer Mexican nationals directly affected by the violence temporary protection for a defined period of time. It would provide these individuals and families with employment authorizations and thus the means with which to sustain themselves and their families.

There is no question that the consumption of drugs in the United States and the resulting 25 to 40 billion dollars that the drug trade sends to Mexico is a major factor in the violence, corruption, and impunity that Mexico now lives. As US citizens and as a people of faith, we share a responsibility to accompany Mexican nationals affected by the violence. It is not acceptable to live oblivious to these families, families that totally fearful of returning to Mexico are at the same time having to live in the darkness of undocumented immigrants.

After 32 years of continuous presence on the border, the work of Annunciation House has come to be known nationally and precisely because of its categorical option for the poor in migration. It is a presence that has been sustained and made possible by individuals, churches, and organizations throughout the country and beyond. Your commitment, solidarity, and sustenance have spoken clearly all these years. In recognition of the conditions in which the countless poor in migration live their lives, the menu served for the Solidarity Dinner will reflect their daily diet of beans and rice.

It is our sincere hope that we will continue to be blessed with your support and see you on the 24th of April at the Voice of the Voiceless Solidarity Dinner.

In Gratitude,

Ruben L Garcia

Director

de 6-9 P.M

Award Dinner April 23, 2010

.
Desde su comienzo en 2003, el Galardón Voz de los Sin voz ha tratado de afirmar y de animar solidaridad y defensa con y en nombre del pobre en migración – aun con arriesgo y costo personal. A través de los años, la Casa Anunciación ha dado la bienvenida a miles de refugiados que huyen la violencia en sus países de origen, especialmente países de Centro América.

Los últimos dos años han traído esa violencia a Juárez, nuestra ciudad hermana vecina,

de una manera que nadie se lo podía haber imaginado. Es una violencia que ha creado una nueva ola

de refugiados que se han visto forzados a huir para proteger a sus familias. Es esta realidad

la que ha hecho que la Mesa Directiva de la Casa Anunciación destaque a

estas voces por la justicia en medio del temor de violencia.
El Centro Amistad

de la Parroquia de Sta. Lucia

518 Gallagher Street

El Paso, TX 79915

Cena: $50/boleto
Para obtener boletos para la cena,

o por mas información, póngase en contacto con:

Casa Anunciación

915-533-4675

voiceofthevoiceless@anunciationhouse.org

Recibidores del Galardón Voz de los Sin Voz 2010

Rev. Oscar Enríquez & Centro Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte.

Award Dinner April 24, 2010, 6-9 pm

Since its inception in 2003, the Voice of the Voiceless Award has sought to affirm and encourage solidarity and advocacy with and on behalf of the poor in migration – even at personal risk and cost. Across the years, Annunciation House has welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing violence in their home countries, especially Central American countries.

The past two years has brought that violence to Juarez, our sister city next door, in a way that no one would have ever imagined. It is a violence that has created a new wave of refugees forced to flee in an effort to protect their families. It is this reality that has led the Board of Directors of Annunciation House to shine a light on these
voices for justice in the midst of the fear of violence.

The Amistad Center of Santa Lucia Parish
518 Gallagher Street
El Paso, TX 79915

Dinner Ticket: $50

To purchase dinner tickets, or for more information, contact:

Annunciation House
915-533-4675
Email: voiceofthevoiceless AT annunciationhouse.org

2010 Voice of the Voiceless Award Recipients:

Rev. Oscar Enriquez & Centro Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte

A priest of the Catholic Diocese of Juarez, Rev. Enriquez is the founder and director of the Centro Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte. CDHPDN documents human rights violations, crimes and police corruption in the growing climate of impunity in Juarez.

Mr. Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson

As ombudsman for the Human Rights Commission of Chihuahua, Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson has documented human rights violations in Juarez. He is one of the few public officials investigating and denouncing military sanctioned human rights abuses.

On the evening of October 15, 2009, while attempting to enter the United States with his US Consulate issued Bi-B2 laser visa, Mr. De L Rosa was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents after answering “yes” to a CBP’s question of whether he, Mr. De L Rosa, had reason to fear for his life in Mexico. During the interview with CBP agents, Mr. De L Rosa explained that as the Juarez Ombudsman for the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission his life had been threatened as a result of his investigations of accusations of human rights violations against the Mexican military. During the interview, Mr. De L Rosa clearly stated that while he did fear for his life, he was not seeking political asylum at this time and instead wanted to continue the ongoing negotiations with Chihuahua state officials in respond to his request for adequate security protection. In spite of Mr. De L Rosa’s clear statement that he was not seeking political asylum, CBP made the decision to detain Mr. De L Rosa.

CBP’s detention of Mr. De L Rosa, a well known and high profile official of a governmental human rights office, raises serious questions and concerns. Why was Mr. De La Rosa detained? On whose authority was Mr. De La Rosa detained? Having made it clear that he was not seeking political asylum, why was this disregarded? If the reason for his detention was for his protection, as CBP has publicly stated, why was the only option considered that of placing Mr. De La Rosa in handcuffs and then locking him up in a detention facility. Finally, were there any political considerations involved in the decision to detain Mr. De La Rosa?

The implications of Mr. De La Rosa’s detention are such that an initial meeting with a staff member of Congressman Silvestre Reyes was held for the purpose of notifying the Congressman’s office that a formal request for a Congressional Inquiry on Mr. De La Rosa’s detention would be forthcoming.

In submitting the formal request, we would like that request to be accompanied with as broad a base of support from organizations and individuals as is possible. If it is possible that someone of Mr. De La Rosa public profile to be dealt with in this manner, what is the reality that non-public persons are dealing with?

This is to let you know that the formal request will be going out via email and on this website in the next day or two and provide you with as much time as possible for you to consider endorsing the request and sign on. It is also being sent with the request that you circulate it among your contacts.

[en]We are a nation of immigrants.

We come from Mexico and the Philippines, from Central America, Ireland, Ethiopia and Iraq. We come to escape poverty and violence, fear, war, discrimination, political suppression and economic hardship. We leave behind parents and children and the skies of our homelands. We bring with us languages, photographs, telephone numbers, backpacks, stories, and hopes. We have walked day and night through the desert to cross the frontera. We have waited on the far side for papers to go through. We have hopped trains, seen companions fall, have put our trust in and been abandoned by coyoteshuman smugglers. We are the ones who have arrived.

We have been called illegals, mojados, aliens and terrorists. We are rounded up at work, leaving our children stranded. We are imprisoned and deported from the cities where we have lived for decades. We are guarded against at the border by barbed wire, dogs, pressure sensors and armed guards, as if we are an army to be feared. Yet often, we are the ones who live in fear.

We are math teachers and dishwashers, carpenters, translators, painters of portraits and of houses. We pick the apples in Yakima, Washington. We wash your dishes in restaurants in Minnesota. We rebuild houses in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We pay taxes out of our salaries. We send our children to school, wanting them to learn and succeed and to be safe. Neither do we forget the family members we have left in our birth countries: we work hard to support them as well. But we live here now: in big cities and small towns, in migrant camps, in apartment buildings and bedroom communities. In some places we are invisible. But look for us—we are here. We are twelve million strong.

We have sought and found opportunities in this country, and in return we have contributed our labor, our children, the rich textures of our cultures, and a chance for each of us—we and you—to learn compassion and wisdom through encountering the stranger. But we must be strangers no longer. We are your grandparents and your sons- and daughters-in-law, your past and your future. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we affirm our humanity, dignity, and value. As children of one God, as heirs of one earth, we assert our rights.

1. We have the right to be treated with respect, regardless of our documented status, and to be referred to in terms that reflect our humanity: no human being is illegal.
2. We have the right to seek employment, and to work to improve the quality of life for ourselves and our families. If we cannot support our families in our home country, we have the right to migrate to other countries in search of work.
3. We have the right not to be separated from our nuclear families. Our spouses and children should be allowed to travel with us as we cross borders in search of a living wage.
4. We have the right to earn legal status in a country to which we have contributed our labor, even if—indeed, especially if—we are low-wage workers.
5. We have a right to safe working conditions and fair compensation for our labor.
6. If we become the victims of a crime, we have the right to seek protection from the law of our new country without fear of imprisonment or deportation based on our documentation status. We have the right to prosecute abuses of our rights, including domestic abuse and abuse by employers.
7. We have a right to health care and healthy living conditions.
8. We have a right to education for ourselves and for our children.
9. We have the right to preserve our traditions and language as we integrate and learn the traditions and language of our new country. We recognize that each of us is made richer by this sharing of cultures.
10. We have the right to participate in political activities and protests without the fear of being detained for advocating for ourselves.educe the need for illegal immigration.

For this reason, immigrant and native born, we say together from the border to the Congress of the United States, “Give us just and humane legislative immigration reform!”

• For the millions of undocumented persons presently living, working and raising families in the United States, we ask Congress to provide an inclusive, straightforward and reasonably priced legislative pathway to permanent legalization and the opportunity for eventual citizenship.
• For families that live separated and divided by present immigration policy, we ask Congress to legislatively affirm the intrinsic value of family unity by eliminating the tremendous backlog of family-based petitions awaiting the availability of a visa.
• For immigrants seeking to accept available jobs and for employers seeking to fill employment positions, we ask Congress to legislatively provide a legal entry pathway for future workers and their families, especially low-skill workers, and thereby significantly reducing the loss of life and limbs, human smuggling, violence and indebtedness that the present system creates.
• For immigrants with special circumstances, we ask Congress for the passage of the Dream Act, the Ag Jobs Act, adjustment of status for recipients of political asylum and Temporary Protected Status, and adjustment of status for persons in removal proceedings who have no felony criminal records.
• For immigrants who feel obligated to live in hiding, who have lost their lives or limbs, who must risk violence and the tremendous indebtedness of paying human smugglers, due to the growing “enforcement-only approach” in dealing with immigration, we ask Congress to legislatively bring an end to the militarization of the border, the construction of walls and fences, employment and neighborhood raids that divide families, the ever increasing construction of immigration detention facilities and the detention of unaccompanied children.
• For immigrants encountering law enforcement, we ask Congress to legislatively protect and guarantee human and civil rights by ensuring due process, making enforcement of immigration law the sole domain of federal agencies, establishing a viable and independent mechanism for the review of federal enforcement agencies and the handling of complaints.
• For potential immigrants, especially those immediately south of the border, who overwhelmingly abhor having to leave their country, family, friends and communities, we ask Congress to legislatively set policies and provide foreign aid to fund economic development programs that create the kind of living-wage employment that allows families to sustain themselves and thus reduce the need for illegal immigration.

Please sign this statement and mail it to your Congressional representatives.
Signature __________________________________________________________________
Printed name_______________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Annunciation House, El Paso, TX, www.annunciationhouse.org
Voice of the Voiceless 2007[/en]

[es]

DECLARACION DE LOS DERECHOS DE INMIGRANTES

Somos una nación de inmigrantes.

Venimos de México y de las Filipinas, de América Central, de Irlanda, de Etiopía y de Irak.  Venimos para escapar la pobreza y la violencia, el miedo, la guerra, la discriminación, la represión política y dificultades económicas.  Dejamos a padres e  hijos y los cielos de nuestras tierras natales.  Traemos con nosotros idiomas, fotos, números de teléfono, mochilas, historias, y esperanzas.  Hemos caminado de día y de noche por el desierto para cruzar la frontera.   Hemos esperado en el otro lado por papeles para pasar.  Hemos subido en trenes, visto a compañeros caerse, puesto nuestra confianza en los coyotes – contrabandistas de humanos – y luego fuimos abandonados por ellos.  Somos los que logramos llegar.

Hemos sido llamados ilegales, mojados, extraños y terroristas.   Nos han reunido en el trabajo, dejando a nuestros hijos abandonados a su suerte.  Somos encarcelados y deportados de las ciudades en donde hemos vivido por décadas.   Somos vigilados en la frontera por alambre espinoso, perros, sensores de presión y guardias armados, como si fuéramos un ejército al cual se le debe temer.  Pero, a menudo, nosotros somos los que vivimos en el miedo.

Somos maestros de matemáticas y lavaplatos, carpinteros, traductores, pintores de retratos y de casas.  Pizcamos manzana en Yákima, Washington.  Lavamos platos en restaurantes en Minnesota.  Construimos casas en Louisiana tras el Huracán Katrina.   Pagamos impuestos de nuestros salarios.  Mandamos a nuestros niños a la escuela, deseando que aprendan y sean éxitos y estén seguros.  Y no se nos olvidan los miembros de familia que dejamos en nuestras patrias:  trabajamos duro para mantener a ellos también.  Pero vivimos aquí ahora:  en las ciudades grandes y en los pueblos pequeños, en campos de trabajadores migrantes, en departamentos y en comunidades donde viven personas que viajan diariamente al lugar de trabajo.  En algunos lugares somos invisibles.  Pero búsquenos—aquí estamos.  Somos doce millones.

Hemos buscado y hemos encontrado oportunidades en este país, y a cambio hemos contribuido nuestro labor, nuestros hijos, la rica textura de nuestras culturas, y una oportunidad para que cada uno de nosotros –  nosotros y ustedes – aprendamos compasión y sabiduría a través de encontrarnos con el desconocido.  Pero ya no debemos ser desconocidos.   Somos tus abuelos y tus yernos y nueras, tu pasado y tu futuro.  Como hermanos y hermanas en Cristo, afirmamos nuestra humanidad, nuestra dignidad y nuestro valor.  Como hijos de un  mismo Dios, como herederos de un solo mundo, afirmamos nuestros derechos.

1. Tenemos el derecho de ser tratados con respeto, no obstante la condición de nuestra documentación, y que hablen de nosotros en términos que reflejen nuestra humanidad:  ningún ser humano es ilegal.

2. Tenemos el derecho de buscar empleo, y de trabajar para mejorar la calidad de vida para nosotros y para nuestras familias.  Si no podemos sostener a nuestras familias en nuestro país, tenemos el derecho de inmigrar a otros países en busca de trabajo.

3. Tenemos el derecho de no ser separados de nuestras familias nucleares.  A nuestros esposos y a nuestros niños se les debe permitir viajar con nosotros cuando cruzamos fronteras en busca de un salario que nos alcance para vivir.

4. Tenemos el derecho de ganarnos un estatus legal en el país al cual hemos contribuido nuestro labor, aunque –por cierto y especialmente si – somos trabajadores ganando un salario bajo.

5. Tenemos el derecho de trabajar en condiciones seguras y de ser compensados justamente por nuestro trabajo.

6. Si llegamos a ser víctimas de un crimen, tenemos el derecho de buscar protección de la ley de nuestro nuevo país sin temor de ser encarcelados o deportados únicamente por nuestro estatus de indocumentados.  Tenemos el derecho de iniciar procedimiento criminal cuando haya abuso de nuestros derechos, incluyendo abuso doméstico y abuso a mano de nuestros patrones.

7. Tenemos el derecho a la asistencia médica y a condiciones de vida saludables.

8. Tenemos derecho a educarnos y a educar a nuestros hijos.

9. Tenemos derecho de preservar nuestras tradiciones  e idioma al integrarnos y al aprender las tradiciones y el idioma de nuestro nuevo país.  Reconocemos que nos enriquecemos los unos a los otros al compartir nuestras culturas.

10. Tenemos el derecho de participar en actividades políticas y en protestas sin temor que vayamos a ser detenidos porque luchamos por nosotros mismos.

Por esta razón, los inmigrantes y los nativos, juntos decimos de esta frontera al Congreso de los Estados Unidos, “¡Denos reforma legislativa de inmigración justa y humana!”

• Para las millones de personas indocumentadas que actualmente viven, trabajan y crían a sus familias en los Estados Unidos, le pedimos al Congreso que provea un camino legislativo inclusivo, sencillo y de precio razonable para la legalización permanente y finalmente para la oportunidad de obtener ciudadanía.
• Para familias que viven separadas y divididas por la política de inmigración existente, le pedimos al Congreso que afirme legislativamente el valor intrínsico de la unidad de la familia eliminando el tremendo atraso de peticiones de familias que esperan la disponibilidad de una visa.
• Para inmigrantes que buscan el aceptar empleos disponibles y para los empleadores que buscan llenar posiciones de empleo, le pedimos al Congreso que provee legislativamente un camino de entrada legal para trabajadores que van a llegar y para sus familias, especialmente a trabajadores de poca habilidad, y así reducir considerablemente la pérdida de vida y de miembros, el contrabando de personas, y la violencia y endeudamiento que crea el sistema actual.
• Para inmigrantes con circunstancias especiales, le pedimos al  Congreso que se promulgue el Dream Act, el Ag Jobs Act, un ajuste de estatus para los que se reciben del de asilo político y del Estatus de Protección Temporaria, y un ajuste de estatus para personas en procedimientos de deportación que no tienen antecedentes penales.
• Para inmigrantes que se ven obligados a vivir escondidos, para los que han perdido la vida o miembros, para los que se ponen en riesgo de sufrir violencia y la tremenda obligación de pagar a contrabandistas, debido al crecimiento al énfasis de “solo cumplimiento” cuando se trata de inmigración, le pedimos al Congreso que le ponga un alto legislativamente a la militarización de la frontera, a la construcción de muros y cercos, a las redadas en lugares de empleo y vecindades que dividen a las familias, a la creciente construcción de lugares de detención para inmigrantes, y la manera en que se tratan las quejas.
• Para inmigrantes que se encuentren con agencias de cumplimiento de leyes, le pedimos al Congreso que protega y garantice derechos humanos y civiles, asegurando debido proceso, poniendo el cumplimiento de la ley migratoria en el campo solamente de agencias federales, estableciendo un mecanismo viable e independente para la revisión de agencias federales de cumplimiento de leyes y para el manejo de quejas.
• Para inmigrantes posibles, especialmente a aquellos inmediatamente al sur de la frontera, que detestan el tener que dejar su país, su familia, sus amigos y sus comunidades, le pedimos al Congreso que establezca leyes que provean ayuda extranjera para programas de desarrollo económico que crea la clase de empleo con jornal básico que permita a las familias a sostenerse y así reducir la necesidad de inmigración ilegal. [/es]

Annunciation House presented its 2008 VOICE OF THE VOICELESS AWARD to Roy Bourgeois on May 17th.

Awarded the Purple Heart as an officer in the U.S. Navy, Roy Bourgeois was ordained a Maryknoll priest in 1972. Sent to Bolivia to work with the poosr, he was arrested by security forces and forced to leave Bolivia. His experience in Bolivia led him to understand the use of military forces to suppress efforts by the poor in Latin America to organize, unionize, monitor human rights and work for greater participation in government. He became aware that soldiers trained at the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia, returned to their countries and committed human rights violations. He became an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, founding the School of the Americas Watch to monitor the conduct returning Latin American soldiers trained at the School of the Americas. Father Roy has spent over four years in U. S. federal prisons for nonviolent protests against the School of the Americas. The violence that soldiers trained at the School of the Americas used on their own people, especially during the 1980s and early 1990s, was a force that led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala, many of whom made their way into the U.S. In todays climate of severe hostility toward immigrants, the prominence of enforcement-only immigration policies, and an increasingly militarized border, we hold Father Roy Bourgeois as a powerful example of the tradition of witness, hospitality and justice to which the guests of our houses have called us.