"I am getting deported because of unjust laws"
“It is important for the world to know that although I did break the law many years ago, I am not getting deported because of that, I am getting deported because of unjust laws, just like the ones before, which no longer exist and I know one day this same law that just destroyed my family will no longer exist.”
That’s part of a letter that Jean Montrevil wrote today from his immigration detention cell in York, Pennsylvania, where he awaits deportation to Haiti.
Montrevil, who came to this country over 20 years ago as a Legal Permanent Resident, could be separated from his American wife and children, aged two, six, and eleven, as early as next Monday.
“My family is going to be destroyed and I’m going to wind up a single mom with three children on public assistance”, said his wife Janay from her home in New York City. Her husband is the primary breadwinner for her family.
Montrevil, who is a national immigrant rights leader, has been on a hunger strike since he was detained on December 30th, joined by dozens of other immigrants at York County Prison.
His detention has sparked protests and civil disobedience from clergy and community members he organizes with in New York City. Over a dozen people were arrested in two protests this week outside the Varrick Street Detention Center in New York, when they blocked vans carrying immigrant detainees, demanding Jean's release.
Jean is the cofounder of the New York New Sanctuary Movement Coalition, and an active member of Families for Freedom, two New York based community organizations working for immigrant's rights.
Jean has campaigned for the passage of laws that would recognize the right of every American child to grow up with their family members present, a right that his children will not have under our current immigrant system.
Jean's three children face growing up away from their father because of draconian laws passed under the Clinton administration in 1996 that have led to the deportation of thousands of people, including lawful residents who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes.
He is being deported 24 years after receiving a drug conviction at age 20, for which he served an 11 year prison sentence. Since being released in 2000, he has built a family, and led his community, while staying in the United States by complying with an immigration parole program known as ISAP.
On December 30th, he reported for his weekly appointment with immigration officials, and did not come out. Days later his family learned he was in immigration detention in York, PA.
Currently, immigration judges have no authority to decide whether or not people like Jean should be deported. They can't take into account whether Jean is a threat to his community, or whether he is in fact an asset. They also can't take into account the damage that his deportation would do to his family and his children.
The outcry that Jean's case has sparked is just one example of the growing movement for human rights for immigrants and their families.
Jean is not alone in his fast. A group of six immigrants and citizens in Florida began the Fast for our Families on New Year's Eve, demanding and end to deportations that separate immigrants from their American families.
You can read more about these actions and the campaign to free Jean Montrevil at the New Sanctuary Movement Coalition's blog, or sign a petition demanding his release.
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