Chicago, Illinois September 24, 2008 – Over 100 people including religious leaders, community members, immigrant advocates from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and family members of immigration detainees participated in community discussions, a procession and candlelight vigil to raise awareness and mobilize action about the treatment of people held in local immigration detention facilities. 

Interfaith leaders participated in the vigil and conversations that focused on the denial of access to family members, attorneys and religious counsel suffered by those in immigration detention. Participants urge support for the Access to Religious Ministry Act, HB2747 that would ensure that immigration detainees in county jails have the same access to priests, nuns, ministers, rabbis, imams, and other clergy as those serving time for criminal offenses in these jails.

Raids and deportations are escalating rapidly throughout the country, requiring more space to house immigrant detainees. In Illinois, hundreds of detainees are held in the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock, and the Tri-County Detention Center in Ullin, in far southern Pulaski County. “Immigrants are suffering after being separated from their families with very limited access to spiritual counseling,” said Father Claudio Holzer, Pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Charles Borromeo Parishes in Melrose Park. “Enabling access to ministry for the immigration detainees is a first step to improving their conditions while in detention.” The Access to Religious Ministry Act would ensure that immigration detainees in county jails have the same access to priests, nuns, ministers, rabbis, imams, and other clergy as the criminal populations in these jails.

This event was part of the Night of 1,000 Conversations, the public education component of the Rights Working Group’s national campaign to Hold the Department of Homeland Security Accountable. The Campaign seeks to expose and rectify DHS policies that violate civil and human rights. In the name of national security, DHS has engaged in abusive practices against people living in the U.S. including citizens, legal residents, and other immigrants.

These include:
• Conducting immigration raids that lock up people without due process.
• Inhumane detention conditions for individuals detained by DHS – many of whom have no criminal record.
• Extra security checks for people based on their race or religion, not evidence of any criminal activity, resulting in an enormous backlog in citizenship applications. Many applications are delayed 7-9 months longer than normal which could result in hundreds of thousands not being able to vote this November.

Participants also call on a moratorium to raids and deportations. “Thousands of families are being broken apart, leaving communities terrorized,” said Father Jose Landaverde from Our Lady of Guadalupe, Anglican Church in Little Village. “Jailing and deporting hard working immigrants is not a solution, we need to stop this non-sense tactics of terror and stop raids and deportations now, enough is enough,” said Jacqueline Herrera-Giron, from the YA BASTA campaign.

ICIRR will continue registering immigrants to vote through the New Americans Democracy Project (NADP) to win a fair and humane immigration reform, a moratorium on deportations, protect civil liberties and due process rights of immigrants, reduce barriers to citizenship and at the state level win funding for We Want To Learn English and win religious workers access to immigrant detention centers. “In less that 3 months we have registered over 25,000 new voters,” said Artemio Arreola, ICIRR Political Director. “Our vote is power and we will be mobilizing thousands across the state to vote on Election Day to have our voices heard.”

The Rights Working Group is a coalition of more than 250 community-based grassroots groups and national organizations formed in the aftermath of 9-11 that works to ensure civil liberties and human rights protections for all people living in the U.S. The September 25th Night of 1,000 Conversations builds upon the success of the June 19th Night of 1,000 Conversations that involved more than 3,000 people in 28 states and launched the Hold Department of Homeland Security Accountable Campaign. For more information visit www.rightsworkinggroup.org

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of 100 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. For more information, visit www.icirr.org

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