Our broken immigration system has caused a moral crisis -- where every day more and more families are torn apart by deportations.
Today, faith, immigrant rights, community and labor leaders began a fast in front of the Capitol's doorstep and at locations across the country to send a clear and visible message to Congress: we will not wait for reform any longer.
The campaign launch of "Fast for Families: A Call for Immigration Reform and Citizenship" was announced this morning at a press conference at the campaign's community tent in front of the Capitol. The event featured prominent leaders and members of the immigrant community including former International Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU, Eliseo Medina; Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President Wade Henderson, NETWORK Lobby Executive Director Sister Simone Campbell, Sojourners President Rev. Jim Wallis, Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism Director Rabbi David Saperstein, National African-American Clergy Network's Rev. Barbara Williams Skinner, NAKASEC Executive Director Dae Joong Yoon, Make The Road NY's Lucy Tzunun, PICO National Network's Rev. Al Herring and Interfaith Worker Justice Public Policy Director Rev. Michael Livingston.
Eliseo Medina expressed his commitment to the cause of immigrant justice and this fast during the presser, saying,
"Doing without food will not be easy, and I know that I will suffer physical hunger. But there is a deeper hunger within us. A hunger for an end to a system that creates such misery among those that come here to escape poverty and violence in search of the American dream, yet too often find death or mistreatment. That is why I fast; not out of anger or despair, but out of faith, hope, and love."
The fast in Washington, DC builds on the pro-immigration reform movement's momentum, with dozens of local and solidarity fasts, events and actions already underway across the country. Fasters will be joined nationwide by groups and activists who are prepared to make sacrifices for the passage of immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.
How to keep up with the "Fast for Families" campaign
- Visit the campaign website: http://fast4families.org
- Follow the campaign on Twitter
- 'Like' them on Facebook
- Check out photos on Flickr from today's press conference campaign launch
