Statement on this week’s breaking news: Solidarity & Action
The breaking news this week has continued our outrage, heartbreak, and resistance. On Monday, we awoke to news of the 9th Circuit Court ruling allowing the Trump Administration to effectively end Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and threatening massive deportations of TPS holders throughout 2021. The first deportations would affect Haitian communities whose TPS status ends January 4, 2021.
This ruling overlooked the racist motivations by the Trump Administration to terminate TPS. This decision also disregarded the potential devastating impacts on the lives of 308,000 TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan & South Sudan, and their 200,000+ family members.
Later that same day, news broke that a brave whistleblower, Nurse Dawn Wooten, had come forward as a witness to hysterectomies and sterilizations of migrant women in custody without their consent and/or knowledge, and gross negligence in addressing COVID-19 public health measures at the Irwin Detention Center, in Georgia. In our country, we have a long history of violence against the bodies of women of color. This latest campaign of forced sterilizations is part of a system of dehumanization and criminalization of immigrant women’s bodies
Wednesday, we learned that Nellie Jo David and Amber Ortega, two indigenous Tohono O’odham leaders peacefully protesting the destruction of their sacred lands with the construction of the border wall at Quitobaquito Springs, also known as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, were arrested by federal agents, sequestered, and held at a detention center without due process and denied access to lawyers and any outside communications.
The cycle of news this week continues the ongoing pattern of abuse and criminal attacks against migrant and indigenous communities. All of this amid a pandemic, historically catastrophic wildfires in the West Coast, and hurricanes in the Southeast.
But, while repression and injustice persist against our communities, we in turn ramp up our acts of resistance and solidarity.
ACTIONS:
Rallies to Save TPS! On September 21st, the Journey for Justice II | Jornada por la Justicia II caravan embarks from LA on a tour across the country to raise awareness and save TPS. You can follow the journey and join local rallies when they stop in your town.
Join or Host a Vigil for Migrant Women ICE detainees! You can sign up to host or locate an organized vigil near you here, coordinated by our colleagues at Families Belong Together.
Follow the O’odham Anti-Border Collective and stand in solidarity and join their actions!
Urge the Senate to pass the Dream & Promise Act which would provide protections and a pathway to permanent residency for TPS holders and DACA recipients. The Dream & Promise Act passed the House last year, it is past time for the Senate to act!
And finally, if you are eligible, be sure to register to vote and develop your voting plan with your voter-eligible family and friends. This election is crucial for the protection and restoration of fundamental human and civil rights. In this context of pandemic, all of us have a role to play in get-out-the vote efforts!
Check out NNIRR’s elections resource page on our website. Visit to find out how to register, how to request mail in ballots and more, and we continue to add new resources. If you have additional resources to share, let us know and we will include on our site. Together we are powerful in our resistance and solidarity.