A call to action to support the caravan
With thousands of asylum seekers in the refugee caravan gathering in the city of Tijuana, the time has come for people in the U.S. who support human rights to demand that the Trump administration follow the law and let the caravanistas into the country. A coalition of solidarity activists in San Diego has put out an “International Call to Action for the Refugee Caravan and Central American Exodus” for Sunday, November 25.
AS THOUSANDS of our refugee relatives — children, elders, brothers, sisters, LGBTQI+ siblings and people with disabilities — make their way to the border, we are calling for an International Day of Action in Solidarity with the Caravan and Exodus from Central America on Sunday, November 25, 2018.
We, an ad-hoc Migrant and Refugee Solidarity Coalition, composed of migrant rights and social justice groups, invite individuals and organizations across the country and globe to organize demonstrations in their cities, and if they have the capacity, to join our rally and march to the border.
We call for an action on November 25 to commemorate the anniversary of the 2017 Honduran election stolen by the U.S. government-backed, right-wing military dictator Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). We are demonstrating on this day to acknowledge and draw attention to the current social and political crises driving the exodus from Central America.
We understand that these crises — drug wars, military coups, destruction of Indigenous lands for the benefit of corporations and environmental catastrophe in the region — are all symptoms of U.S. foreign policy, corporate profiteering and war-making.
Moreover, we see that the Trump administration is creating a warlike atmosphere against the caravan. It should be clear that they are not just acting with the support of a cabinet of white supremacists and a majority GOP in the Senate, but are also emboldened by the last few decades of bipartisan militarization of the border, mass raids, expansion of for-profit detention centers and mass deportations — with more than 2.5 million migrants under Obama and Trump alone. Further, these policies are a continuation of a long history of anti-Indigenous colonial violence and genocide.
These attacks have been complemented by decades of pushback against the migrants’ rights movement and years of terror against all who participated in the mega-marches for Migrant’s Rights back in 2006 and since. We must continue to build and consolidate our gains no matter how large or small.
Legal precedent, “civility,” regard for life: the administration has no respect for any of it. The only thing that it responds to is resistance from below.
The U.S. government, as with all governments, and the people of the United States have a choice: We can reject the humanity of the refugees and buy into the racist anti-migrant rhetoric of the Administration and the media. Or we can do what humans have an obligation to do and what the U.S. government owes the people of Central America: Insist on allowing all the refugees the right to seek asylum!
Demands
1. Respect for the right of asylum for all members of the Central American Exodus. Stop the profiling and criminalization of refugees; lift the executive order limiting access to asylum.
2. Process all asylum claims made at Ports of Entry with expediency. We reject Custom and Border Protection’s claim that Port of Entries lack capacity to let in refugees. We also reject the shift away from decades of international asylum agreements that allow for requests to be made anywhere on the border.
3. The U.S. government must publicly acknowledge: a) its role in Honduran Coup in 2009, b) that the Honduran government is a U.S.-supported dictatorship, and c) recognize the political and social crises throughout Central America as caused by US foreign policy.
4. Call for international solidarity beyond the U.S. and Mexico. The United Nations and Red Cross must also recognize the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
5. We demand freedom for incarcerated migrants now and free movement for asylum seekers. No incarceration of migrants in shelters or for-profit detention centers.
6. No impunity for governments that violate international asylum agreements and processes. Prosecute officials who violate the human right to seek asylum in any country of their preference.
Endorsing Organizations
Pueblo Sin Fronteras
Otay Mesa Detention Resistance
Union Del Barrio
People over Profits
QTPOC colectivo
American Federation of Teachers
Border Angels, San Diego
Defend Boyle Heights
Yano Project
Cosecha
Democratic Socialists of America-San Diego chapter
International Socialist Organization
Party For Socialism and Liberation
American Friends Service Committee
Enclave Caracol
Centro Cultural Dela Raza
Las Luchonas
QTPOC
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft
Coalición Fronteriza de CentroAmericanxs
CARECEN
Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice
Enclave Caracol TJ
Raices sin Fronteras
San Diego Workers World Party
The Coalition to Free Mumia Abu Jamal and All Political Prisoners
San Diego Committee Against Police Brutality
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
San Diego County Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party
43 San Diego
Democratic Autonomous Federation
Food Not Bombs
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Legalization for All, No Space for Hate Racial Justice Coalition
