Border Angels Weekly Newsletter
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Mark your calendars for Friday, August 28th and tune in @ 7:30 PM for a LiveStream benefit for Border Angels. It will also be the debut of Alicia Blue’s music video, Incognito.
We are grateful to these amazing artists for hosting this fundraiser, and using their beautiful voices and artistry to portray their stories. We can’t wait to see you all perform!🎵🖤
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CALLING ALL ARTISTS: 
Border Angels is looking for a new design for tshirts and merchandise, and we want YOU, our followers to help us create one! We are running a contest to vote and pick our favorite. Submit and promote your pictures for a chance to win a basket of merchandise and be credited on our merch. Use the hashtag #borderangelscontest and tag us. Have fun and be creative we can’t wait to see what you come up with! Deadline is 9/18.
Email us at [email protected] for questions and more info
*if chosen as a winner you are agreeing to donate your design*
#borderangels #borderangelscontest
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Familias Reunidas
Bond Program
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We are so happy to share with you one more story of the recipients from our Families Reunidas Bond Program, Thiam. He is a Mauritanian asylum seeker who was in detention for eight months. As you all know, the Otay Mesa Detention Center continues to have an extreme number of COVID cases, and we are so glad to have one less person exposed.
We are so excited to have bonded out one more person out of the horrible conditions of OMDC, and soon be reunited with his family. After being released, he was able to have an actual meal at Halal Restaurant in City Heights! He is then headed on a plane to be with his aunt and sponsor across the county. We are so grateful that although conditions are difficult and straining, your support has allowed us to continue this program!
Let this story serve as a reminder of all the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members waiting in such conditions in detention, simply for seeking a place or a part in this country.
Thiam represents so many others being subject to racist and inhumane policies, and we must not forget the urgency of getting everyone we can out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. This pandemic continues to be unforgiving, and we will not allow any more lives lost.
Again, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue to help us make sure our folks are #FreeAndAlive.
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Last week we split into two teams to cover multiple canyons, while facing temperatures of over 125°.
Death Valley is a National Park, and on the same day recorded temperatures of 130°. The Imperial Valley desert canyons reached just about the same temperature as Death Valley, yet no news comes from this area, since it is not a desirable destination or location.
People hike for fun in extreme temperatures in Death Valley to test their endurance and to build their stamina or to take trendy pictures for social media. Meanwhile, migrants crossing into the United States via the desert walk through this inhospitable terrain for survival.
We are so lucky to be able to count on our team that continues to show up every week. No matter the weather, nor how extreme the temperatures get, we have not, and will not leave the desert. As long as people are crossing through, we’ll be there.
Since the temperatures are still extreme, we are only taking experienced Water Drop volunteers out with us. As soon as we can take new volunteers we will. Thank you all for your patience.
In the meantime, continue sharing our posts and making donations! This allows us to continue our work!!!
For any questions about Water Drops or our Water Drops during Covid, reach out to Water Drop Program Co-Director James Cordero, [email protected].
Thank you for your continued support!
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We are so happy to see education is a priority for our kids despite everything.
This particular shelter was able to buy an antenna for their TV, so they were able to start their virtual classes.
We are very grateful to our shelter directors, and of course to all of you for you continued donations. We love to know that on top of providing groceries and basic necessities, you are helping us invest in their futures!
THANK YOU!
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Border Angels Presentations
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This week Border Angels presented virtually for another wonderful group of students!
Thank you so much to Kevin, Phil and Francis Parker Day School for hosting us via zoom.
We are so happy to partner with educators to offer different learning experiences that engage students in very needed discussions on so many important topics, such as the border and immigration. We are also grateful for their drive and interest in organizing on our behalf.
Whatever the “new normal” for schools may be, we are always open to exploring new and creative ways to share our experience and information with students and teachers.
Would you like Border Angels to present for your class/event/organization? Email us at [email protected] to get started!
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Border Angels in the News
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US restricts work permits to asylum seekers
By EFE
"The Administration of President Donald Trump began to deny work permits to asylum seekers who cross into the United States without authorization on Tuesday, making it more difficult for immigrants to survive while they wait for a judge to define their cases.
"This is a game by the Trump administration to end asylum processes," said immigration attorney Dulce Garcia, director of Border Angels.
"They are closing all the avenues that these migrants have to survive, bring food to their tables and have a roof," adds the activist who helps asylum seekers who arrive at the San Diego, California border from Tijuana, Mexico."
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Estados Unidos restringe permisos de trabajo a solicitantes de asilo
Por EFE
"La Administración del presidente Donald Trump comenzó a denegar desde este martes los permisos de trabajo a los solicitantes de asilo que crucen a Estados Unidos sin autorización, haciendo más difícil que los inmigrantes puedan subsistir mientras esperan que un juez defina sus casos.
“Esto es un juego del Gobierno de Trump para acabar con los procesos de asilo”, dijo la abogada de inmigración Dulce García, directora de Border Angels.
“Están cerrando todas las avenidas que estos migrantes tienen para sobrevivir, llevar comida a sus mesas y tener un techo”, añade la activista que presta ayuda a solicitantes de asilo que llegan a la frontera de San Diego, California, desde Tijuana, México.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/noticias/inmigracion/articulo/2020-08-25/estados-unidos-restringe-permisos-de-trabajo-a-solicitantes-de-asilo
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CALL TO ACTION!!!
At the beginning of this year, we rallied on behalf of Rocío Rebollar Gómez, mother of a U.S. Army officer, property and business owner, to stop her deportation after having lived in the U.S. for over 30 years. Having been deported before, she was not eligible for asylum despite the increased cartel violence in her home country. She had applied for a special permit and extension to stay in the U.S., and when she went to check in with ICE, she was detained and later deported.
This country’s policies continue to rip immigrnat families apart, even for those, like Ms. Rebollar, that are “model citizens".
Today we are asking for your help once more.
Sign the petition
Help reunify this family!
https://www.change.org/p/department-of-homeland-security-bring-deported-mom-of-army-officer-back-to-the-united-states-2?fbclid=IwAR0cX0hhz7tQNhBj8VcDFKzmU1qXK22BpBX5xQF5TksEOgTB6sSFx-ftqGo
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With our new Green Cards for Kids program, we are so lucky to be able to work with immigration attorney Fabiola Navarro who will be representing these children.
It is crucial that we help these children as they have already suffered enough abuse, neglect and/or abandonment.
With your continued support, we can help pay for the legal representation these children deserve in this critical time of their lives.
Please consider donating! No amount is too small!
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You can donate to Border Angels when you shop on Amazon.
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible items to Border Angels!
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Tienes la oportunidad de donar a Border Angels cuando compras en Amazon.
Amazon nos donará el 0.5% del precio de compra de artículos elegibles!
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Despite the growing challenges of this pandemic, Border Angels remains determined to protect and support the community we have pledged to serve. Even though we are currently unable to accept physical donations, we are always accepting monetary donations to support:
1. Our Shelter Aid Program❤️: Especially now that we are unable to receive these items, we need your help to provide funds for groceries, hygiene products, utility bills, rent, clothes, etc.!
2. Familias Reunidas Bond Program👨👩👧: Given the severity of this outbreak, we NEED to get as many people out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center as we can. With your help we can post bond for more individuals! (Link in highlights under Bond Program)
3. Water Drop Program💧: Even after having to postpone public water drops, our team is still constantly in the desert scouting and dropping the supplies necessary for survival. Their work never stops because the need never stops.
Thank you for your continued support.🖤🦋
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