CELEBRATE!CHILDREN REMOVED FROM HOMESTEAD FLORIDA DETENTION CENTER On August 3rd, the last migrant children were removed from the Homestead Immigrant Detention Center near Miami, Florida.  With leadership from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), UU’s and other people of faith have been signing petitions, holding vigils, contacting members of Congress and protesting at the Detention Center for some time now demanding that this and other prison like detention centers be closed. According to an article in the August 3rd Miami Times Herald (Click HERE), children were picked up in vans between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Saturday August 3rd. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that “all (children) sheltered in the Homestead facility have either been reunified with an appropriate sponsor or transferred to a state-licensed facility within its (Office of Refugee Resettlement) network of care providers as of August 3rd.” Susan Leslie, the Unitarian Universalists Congregational Advocacy and […]

CLOSE IMMIGRANT DETENTION CENTERS! Noon, July 2nd  A broad national coalition of organizations, including MoveOn, the American Friends Service Committee, United We Dream, the National Network for Immigrant Rights, the ACLU, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee are urging the public to demonstrate on Tuesday, July 2nd at noon at “Close the Camps” protests being in or in near the offices of three Michigan members of Congress: 1. YPSILANTI – Office of Rep. Debbie Dingell, 301  W. Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti.  Host: Jessica P. “We will turn our outrage into action. We will demand that Rep. Dingell use her full power to demand the Trump administration close the camps immediately, free the children, reunite them with their families. 2. SOUTHFIELD – Office of Rep. Brenda Lawrence, 26700 […]

BACKGROUND The American Friends Service Committee, along with social justice and faith partner organizations (including the National Immigrant Justice Center, United We Dream, the Franciscan Action Network, Sojourners, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the UU Service Committee) has been collaborating to demand that the Homestead Detention Center near Miami, Florida be shut down.  They have declared that the week of June 9 – 16 be a time of focused action to demand that Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shut down the Center and expedite efforts to reunite youth with their families or sponsors. This email will provide background information and let you know what you can do.   The U.S. Government is currently holding at Homestead Detention Center over 3,000 […]