San Diego: Support the Families Affected by ICE Raids

***Please circulate widely!***

Dear friends and supporters,

As you may have already heard, on Thursday May 15, 18 workers
from the French Gourmet Bakery in Pacific Beach (San Diego) were taken into
custody as part of a raid conducted by Immigration Customs and
Enforcement (ICE). As you can imagine, this event was extremely
traumatizing for the detained individuals as well as for their
families. In response to this raid, many individuals and
organizations including immigrant-rights groups, unions, lawyers,
student organizations and university professors have come together to
support the detained individuals, their families, and to
denounce the raids. The purpose of this email is to request your
assistance in supporting the families of the detained persons by means of
a donation to a general fund to cover their legal and personal expenses,
and to build a bond fund to facilitate the speedy release of detainees in
the event that another raid of this nature recurs.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE INDIDIVUALS AFFECTED BY
THE ICE RAID:

1) PLEASE MAKE A CHECK PAYABLE TO:

Edward Orendain
Law Office of Edward Orendain
A Professional Corporation
333 H Street, Fifth Floor
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619)994-8143

To give an example of the situation these families are in, please
consider the story of the Ortegas, as related by their attorney, Edward
Orendain:

"In an effort to support their family, father and son made the tough
decision to leave their family behind and come to the U.S. to look for
work. They entered a year and a half ago and immediately began working and
sending whatever money they could to their family in Mexico. They have no
family in the U.S. and both live and work together. They were both
arrested in an ICE raid at their place of employment. Bond has been set at
$3,000.00 for each of them. Having no family in the U.S. who can pay the
bond, they are getting desperate and are considering accepting a
deportation order."

Unfortunately, as an epilogue to this update, Mr. Orendain has just
informed me that the Ortegas have accepted voluntary departure and have
most likely either been deported already, or will be deported within the
next few days. As you can see, it is crucial that we build the capacity
of our coalition so that the next time a raid happens, we can pay bond
before individuals succumb to ICE intimidation sign departure forms.

Please feel free to contact myself or Edward Orendain with any questions.
On behalf of the May 1st Coalition, the Si Se Puede Immigrant Rights
Organization, Border Angels, Migrant-Rights Awareness, and MEChA de UCSD,
thank you very much for your support of the human rights of the Ortegas
and other families. Sincerely,


Michael Bakal
Migrant Rights Awareness
mbakal [at] ucsd.edu