FFI Summer Quarterly Newsletter

Last month, we were grateful and excited to be able to connect with visitation groups and directly impacted advocates and organizers across California during the Pilgrimage for a Better Future coordinated by the Dignity Not Detention Coalition and the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.

The pilgrimage stopped at all of the state’s seven ​​ICE detention facilities over four days and held energizing rallies imbued with spiritual reflections and calls-to-action at each one. In an intentional move to connect the dots between often-siloed movements, we heard not only powerful testimonies from currently detained organizers calling from the inside, but also wisdom and insights from local indigenous leaders and environmental justice workers.

We were particularly inspired by the unprecedented gathering held outside of Imperial Regional Detention Facility which, due to its remote and conservative location, has historically struggled to garner local presence and mobilization. After hearing directly from detained leaders Ramon, Donald, and Ulises, crowd members signed a powerful petition they had drafted with their seven core demands.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a risk to our communities both on the inside and outside, we are thankful for the times we are able to safely come together and sustain our movement with these critical moments of collective visioning of a world without cages.

National Immigration Detention Hotline

Telugu! We are grateful for their dedication and support and cannot do this work without dedicated and passionate volunteers! We are still in need of volunteers who speak languages other than English or Spanish including indigenous languages in order to support as many people in detention as we can. If you speak a language other than Spanish or English and are interested in joining the FFI Hotline Volunteer Team, please fill out our volunteer interest form. 

Immigration Bond Fund

Celebrating 10 years on the road to abolition

As an organization and within the greater movement against immigration detention, we have had to respond to changing circumstances, like the increased use of digital surveillance and monitoring ICE’s inadequate response to COVID-19, and address new challenges as they appear. With bold community members like you, we will be able to better face current realities and future needs as they arise.

Next month we will be launching a new campaign, "FFI's Until Everyone is Free Annual Appeal: Celebrating 10 years”! Your support in this exciting campaign will help us strategize and tackle current challenges and prepare for those that lay ahead. A successful annual appeal will ensure that we can continue this critical work to abolish detention. 

We look forward to sharing more information about "FFI's Until Everyone is Free Annual Appeal” in the coming weeks, and keep an eye out for our 4th of July social media campaign, to help us bring awareness to the fact that our community members in detention are not free on Independence Day.

In Solidarity,

Wensley Peguero
[email protected]
Development Director
Freedom for Immigrants