For Media Contact, further inquiries or interview requests, please contact:
Uchechukwu Onwa – uchechukwu@qdep.org
Dzana Ashworth – dzana.ashworth@gmail.com
Mohamed Q. Amin – info@CaribbeanEqualityProject.org
For Immediate Release
January 20, 2020
New York, NY | In the past, we have marched and gathered to protect LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers in the USA, and on Friday, January 22 at 5PM ET, we will gather virtually as a measure to protect our community from the threat of COVID-19 and right-wing violence.
Within the first 100 days in office, we urge President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to follow-through with the Biden Plan to Advance LGBTQ+ Equality in American and Around The World, while keeping the following demands in mind:
- End detention for ALL, including Black, queer, and trans immigrants
- Defund the police and begin the transition away from the prison industrial complex
- Decriminalize border crossing and abolish ICE
- Empower LGBTQ+ immigrants through universal health care and education reform
- Change and make smoother the asylum process for LGBTQ+ migrants in the recently announced US Citizenship Act of 2021 by increased funding for reducing backlog and providing legal representation
- #FreeThemAll from ICE facilities as a response to COVID-19 and its threat to people who are currently incarcerated
- Allocate resources to LGBTQ+ activist across the globe to provide rapid response to the needs of LGBTQ+ people around the world
- Establish a relief fund for and distribute resources to LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers
We will be holding a remote phone zap and virtual rally on Friday to activate the incoming Biden-Harris administration and remind them that while Trump’s time in the White House may be over, there is much to be done to truly support LGBTQ+ immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented folks. Join us online to uplift LGBTQ+ migrant voices and protect queer lives, particularly the lives of Black and brown, trans, non-binary, and disabled folks within our community.
We will also remember the lives of those we lost under the Trump administration, and recall the legacy of leaders of generations past who fought for liberation for queer and trans people, and taught us to stay strong in the face of hate and ignorance.
We call upon the Biden-Harris administration to join us in challenging this country’s individualist, capitalistic, colonialist, and racist history, and begin a long but fulfilling transformative process toward a just future.
Speakers: Aneiry Zapata, Iman Le Caire, Tiffany Jade Munroe, Kadeem Robinson, Emily Landry, Jose Lalin, Nick Mwaluko
Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/711198149581968
Organizations:
Queer Detainee Empowerment Project
Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project
Co-organizers:
Uchechukwu Onwa, Aneiry Zapata, Alexandra Ashworth, Jerome Jones, Mohamed Q. Amin, Anh, Iman Le Caire, Dani Love, Juliet Ekeh, Reginald, Ana Rosa Marx, Sam Polanco
The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. We work to organize around the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQIA TS & GNC detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality, and gender expression/identity.
We are committed to assisting folks in building lives outside of detention, to breaking down the barriers that prevent folks from building fulfilling and productive lives, and to keeping queer families intact by demanding an end to deportations, detention, and policing. We believe in creating a narrative of thriving, not just surviving.
QDEP is a proud member of the Detention Watch Network, Freedom For Immigrants, New York Immigration Coalition, AbolishICE NYNJ Coalition, as well as the International Detention Coalition. QDEP is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA). CTA, an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is legally and financially responsible for all our project activities.
###
