Rally to Support Victor Toro
Monday, December 6, 12 noon to 1 pm
At the corner of Lafayette and Worth Streets
Lower Manhattan, New York City
(behind Federal Building near Thomas Paine Park; J/Z to Chambers Street, 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge, R/N to City Hall)
Hearing before Judge Sarah Burr
Monday, December 6, 1 pm
Room 1237, 26 Federal Plaza
(Broadway between Duane and Worth Streets)
On December 6 the U.S. government will continue its three-year campaign to deport a New York community and immigrant rights activist who fled Chile after being imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet dictatorship.
A founder of Chile's MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement), Victor Toro has lived in New York City with his family since 1986. He and Nieves Ayress, his wife, have played a leading role in progressive politics in the city over the years; their accomplishments include the creation of La Peña del Bronx, a local political and cultural community center. Now 68 years old, Toro is facing the threat of deportation to Chile, which is again ruled by a rightist government. He is seeking political asylum.
Judge Sarah Burr has said that the upcoming hearing will be the last one; after this she will issue a ruling. Some 30 of Toro's supporters, many standing, filled the small courtroom for the most recent hearing, on October 15; Toro's defense committee is asking for people come out again on December 6 to show how strongly the community supports this longtime activist.
Contact information:
Call 718-292-6137, 646-431-7037, email luznieves55@hotmail.com
For more information on the case:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/chile-archives-34/2734-immigrant-rights-activist-and-former-torture-victim-from-chile-faces-deportation
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/en-espatopmenu-81/2735-activista-a-favor-de-los-inmigrantes-y-ex-torturado-en-chile-enfrenta-posible-deportacion
Other recent news & links on immigrant rights organizing:
Dream Act organizing:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/12/last_minute_dream_act_compromises.html
http://letstalkaboutit01.blogspot.com/2010/12/dream-act-listen.html
http://www.nysylc.org/
http://dreamact.info/
Dream Act Hunger Strikes:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/immigration/dream-act-hunger-strike-12-1-2010
http://blog.abhinav.com/students-starve-to-get-the-dream-act-passed/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2632669/posts
http://chieforganizer.org/2010/11/25/hunger-strike-for-dream-act-on-thanksgiving/
Organizing against "Secure Communities" (local police enforcing immigration law):
http://www.deportationnation.org/2010/11/insecure-communities-feds-target-nyc-immigrants-for-more-deportations/
http://www.deportationnation.org/2010/11/video-advocates-ask-why-no-opt-out-of-secure-communities/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=450340645951&oid=105165912665&comments
http://www.deportationnation.org/2010/11/domestic-violence-survivor-confronts-secure-communities-director/
