From the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (http://www.paimmigrant.org):
Last week we got word that the Bureau of Appeals decided that because the PA DHS had licensed the Berks Detention Center for many years, and the County spent money to expand, the license should be re-instated. So even though families are being held in indefinite detention, suffering countless violations of their human rights, the judge thinks PA DHS should not have revoked the license.
We believe this is the wrong decision!
The next step is yet another long appeal process, which means families continuing to be held in detention. HOWEVER Governor Tom Wolf could act today and shut the doors of the Berks Detention Center and pressure ICE to release the families. Several of these families have been in detention for over 500 days and none of them should spend even one more day in jail.
In January 2017, Governor Wolf attended a rally supporting refugees at the Philadelphia airport and said “William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a safe place for vulnerable people fleeing oppression.” Please take a few minutes to contact Gov. Wolf and ask that he show the families at Berks the same compassion he showed refugee families in January and immediately exercise his legal authority to close the Berks Detention Center and pressure ICE to release the families.
Three things you can do to support the families at Berks:
- Send an email to Gov. Wolf at: http://bit.do/Wolf-ShutDownBerks
- Call Gov. Wolf at: 717-787-2500
- Spread the message to #ShutDownBerks via social media!
Click on links below for a complete toolkit that includes background information, a sample letter, a phone script, sample tweets, and the legal memo outlining the Governor’s authority. Please feel free to share these materials with your networks.
For more background information and other materials, check out the Shut Down Berks Campaign page on our website.
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