Haitian immigrant rights leader Jean Montrevil on hunger strike at PA's York Detention Center -- 8 NY clergy arrested for civil disobedience in support of his case

Jean Montrevil, a long time community leader and activist in a variety of immigrant rights groups including the NYC New Sanctuary Movement and Detention Watch Network, was detained for deportation to Haiti on December 30, 2009.  Mr. Montrevil was attending a regular check in New York when he was detained by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  He is now being held at the York Detention Center in Pennsylvania, where he has joined the "Fast For Our Families" hunger strike.

Click HERE for WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW to stop Jean's deportation. 

Montrevil is the husband of a U.S. citizen and father of four U.S. citizen children, and has been a legal immigrant in the United States since 1986. He is facing deportation for a 20-year old conviction, for which he has long since served his sentence.  He has never broken any law since.

On January 5th, at a rally attended by over a hundred people outside the Varick Street Immigrant Detention Center, eight clergy and two community leaders were arrested after stopping traffic for a half hour to prevent vans transporting new immigrant detainees to the center. The participants called for Montrevil's release. They also demanded reform of draconian immigration laws separation of families.

The Rev. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church, where Montrevil’s family worships, stated: “I am being arrested because it is a moral outrage that our government would do this to such a great man and father. These immigration laws that destroy families contradict the values we should uphold as a society. They need to change now.”


FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Read more from NYC IndyMedia at http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/12/108935.html

Check out http://newsanctuarynyc.wordpress.com/ for amazing photos as well as links to press coverage.

For photos, videos and more information on Jean, go to http://newsanctuarynyc.org/jean.php.

For information about the hunger strike, go to www.fastforourfamilies.org.

You can also follow the Fast For Our Families on:
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