​This week the Metrowest Worker Center has been standing with Angelica in her efforts to be reunited with her daughter.  The pair fled terrible violence in Guatemala a few months ago.  They were picked up near the border in Arizona and taken to a detention center.   One morning they were awakened at 5am. She was ordered to dress her daughter in an oversized shirt, a blue jacket and blue pants then placed in a line with other children to be taken away.   That mid-May morning was the last time she saw her daughter, then 7 years old.  A few days later her daughter turned 8 years old alone with total strangers.  They have been able to speak by phone 5 times in the past 6 weeks.  Angelica was released by ICE after making her case for asylum and came to Framingham were she knows a few people.  

MWC-Casa was contacted about the situation on a Friday.  By the end of the weekend, Diego had met with Angelica, obtained an excellent immigration attorney (pro bono), and set up a meeting with the Attorney General’s office.  The lawyer immediately began efforts to obtain the daughter’s release.  When that effort failed they held a press conference on Wednesday June 27th to announce that they filed suit in US District Court to get the agencies involved to speedily release the child to her mother.  

​You can listen to the press conference  https://www.facebook.com/aclumass/videos/10155668756312475/

You can read the Boston Globe coverage of the story www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/27/guatemalan-seeking-asylum-sues-for-daughter-return/VgFMzzGC3EiqcKqRJHfrsO/story.html

You can make a donation to the fund that has been created to help buy the airplane tickets that we hope will be needed soon,  help with counseling costs, help with emergency housing and other basic needs that will continue until Angelica is given permission to work.  https://fundrazr.com/01MyA8?ref=ab_c7MkU5​

The Metrowest Immigrant Solidarity Network collaborates with the Metrowest Worker Center -Casa.  It is made up of people and faith groups in the Metrowest area, immigrant and citizen, who will actively stand together as neighbors to create the welcoming community in which we want to live.  The statement below was crafted before the most recent crisis of children at the border.  It is written out of our experience as citizens of the pain and fear that grips our immigrant neighbors. It is even more urgent at this time.  We welcome you or your organization to endorse the statement.  Please leave a comment below if you would like to add your name or your organization's name to the list of endorsers.  We will use this list in meetings with public officials at the local, state and federal levels.   

A Declaration of Support for our Immigrant Neighbors
We, the undersigned of the Metrowest Area, stand in solidarity with the Metrowest Immigrant Solidarity Network:

1. We are witness to immigration enforcement practices (by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE) that have become increasingly broad and     unjust, causing senseless pain to children and spouses, (many of whom are U.S. citizens),  neighbors, colleagues, friends, and entire communities.  We believe these cruel practices do far more harm than any possible justification of public safety or “enforcing a rule of law” and that they indeed undermine our community safety.  We believe these practices to be morally wrong and damaging to the fabric of our society.
   
   
2. We call on people of faith and others of good will, to join with us in stating that we believe these practices to be profoundly misguided and cannot be reconciled with our values. We call on others to join us in working to end the policies that bring about the trauma and to continue to assist those harmed by these policies.  We affirm that we are one community and are called to treat the most vulnerable among us with love and dignity.